The plot consists of four acts, which are presented in anachronic order. The chronological order is Acts 3 (Genesis), 2 (Exodus), 1 (Revelation), and 4 (Retribution). So, after the first act, Revelation, the following acts are what happened before and the fourth act is chronologically the last. 1. Revelation Elizabeth "Liz" Brundy lives in the Old West with her husband Eli and their two children: Matthew, Eli's son from a previous marriage, and daughter Samantha, called Sam. Liz works as a midwife who can hear but is mute, and so communicates through sign language. One day, a new Preacher, known as "The Reverend", hosts a session at the local church, and the moment that Liz hears his voice, she seems to recognize him and is terrified by his appearance. Later that day, Liz is forced to choose between delivering a baby safely or saving its mother; she chooses to euthanise the baby and save the mother, without telling her until after the procedure is finished. Afterwards, Nathan, the husband of the formerly-pregnant woman, blames Liz. That night, Nathan drunkenly shows up at Eli and Liz's house, violent and threatening; Nathan claims Liz is responsible for his son's death. In the middle of the fight, the Reverend shows up and tells him to leave. He then goes into Eli's house and has a mysterious talk with Liz, saying she is guilty of the murder of Nathan's son and must be "punished". As Eli overhears some of the conversation, the Reverend leaves the house. Eli's sheep are found dead the next morning, and he seeks out Nathan, who has since disappeared. Liz later sneaks off at night to murder the Reverend, but finds her daughter's doll in the Reverend's bed instead. Meanwhile, the Reverend disembowels Eli, and leaves him to die. As he succumbs to his wounds, Eli tells Matthew to take the family up into the mountains to his father, before the boy mercy kills him. Liz and the children flee the farm. 2. Exodus A young girl named Joanna, walking through the desert, is picked up and nursed by a traveling Chinese family. In the mining town of Bismuth, Joanna is sold to a brothel owned by Frank. She is protected by Sally, a prostitute, until Sally is hanged for shooting a violent customer; another prostitute, Elizabeth, then protects Joanna in the aftermath of Sally's hanging. However, when Elizabeth bites the tongue of an abusive customer, her tongue is cut off as punishment. Joanna teaches Elizabeth sign language from a book the doctor gave her. Elizabeth plans to sneak out of Bismuth to start a new life, and arranges through a marriage broker to marry Eli. The Reverend comes to the brothel, recognizes Joanna, and proceeds to violently attack her. Elizabeth tries to save Joanna but is murdered by the Reverend with Joanna slashing his throat in retaliation. She runs away, cutting off her own tongue and taking Elizabeth's place with Eli. 3. Genesis In the desert, two badly wounded men, Samuel and Wolf, are the last survivors in a dispute over gold that has left several other men dead. They depart on a single horse. Joanna lives with her mother, Anna, and father, revealed to be the Reverend himself. He is strictly religious and is often cruel and abusive towards his family. Samuel and Wolf collapse at the farm and Joanna secretly cares for them. Anna confronts the Reverend when she realizes he lusts after their daughter, so he beats and humiliates her by placing a scold's bridle on her head. In response, Anna commits suicide in full view of the church congregation. The next day the Reverend takes Joanna to church and starts to perform a wedding ceremony between himself and his daughter. Samuel tries to rescue her, but the Reverend murders him. Her father whips Joanna and rapes her. In the morning she runs off. 4. Retribution Matthew is shot by the Reverend as he follows Liz to her father-in-law's place in the mountains. He murders her father-in-law and tells Liz he will beat and rape her daughter, but Liz murders him instead. Sometime later, after Liz has turned Eli's place into a sawmill, Nathan arrives to arrest her. The Reverend had sent him to Bismuth where he became a deputy and then sheriff. Having found a wanted poster of Elizabeth Brundy (the woman without a tongue who killed Frank before she saved Liz/Joanna), Nathan has come to arrest her (Liz). As Nathan is escorting her onto a ferry, with a last look at her daughter playing on the shore, Liz throws herself in the lake and drowns. Her daughter Sam, now a grown woman with a child of her own, remembers her well.

In the year 2678, the spaceship Hunter-Gratzner is struck by micrometeoroids that penetrate the hull, killing the captain and sending it off course toward a nearby planet. First Officer Owens and docking pilot Carolyn Fry attempt an emergency landing. As the ship descends uncontrollably, a panicked Fry prepares to jettison the passengers held in cryostasis to save herself, but Owens intervenes. The ship crash-lands, killing Owens and most of the passengers. The survivors include Fry; Imam Abu al-Walid, escorting three young students (Ali, Hassan and Suleiman) to New Mecca; a teenage boy named Jack; prospectors Shazza and Zeke; wealthy merchant Paris; law enforcement officer William J. Johns; and his prisoner, the dangerous and enigmatic criminal Richard B. Riddick, who escapes in the confusion. While searching for him across the sun-scorched and seemingly barren planet, the group discovers an abandoned geological research settlement with a nonfunctional dropship. When Zeke goes missing, the survivors suspect Riddick. However, Fry investigates a nearby underground cave where she is attacked by aggressive creatures and narrowly escapes. Johns recaptures Riddick and offers to release him in exchange for helping them escape the planet. While exploring the settlement, one of the students, Ali, disturbs a cluster of juvenile creatures, which devour him before retreating underground to avoid the sun, revealing a fatal vulnerability to light. Using an orrery, Fry discovers that a total eclipse—occurring every twenty-two years—is imminent. Once darkness falls, the creatures will emerge to hunt, explaining the fate of the previous settlers. As tension builds, both Johns and Riddick try to win Fry to their side: Fry recounts Riddick's cold pragmatism, while Riddick exposes Johns as a morphine-addicted bounty hunter who had refused to use his drugs to ease Owens' agonizing death. The group races back to the Hunter-Gratzner to retrieve power cells for the dropship, but the total eclipse begins, unleashing thousands of flying creatures that kill Shazza. The survivors take shelter inside the Hunter-Gratzner, but the creatures breach it and devour Hassan. Realizing they must reach the dropship, they enlist Riddick—whose surgically enhanced eyes grant him night vision—to guide them through the darkness. Armed with available and improvised light sources, the group sets out. When the group reaches a narrow canyon teeming with creatures, Paris panics, runs, and is killed. Riddick reveals that Jack is actually a girl disguising herself as a boy, and her menstrual blood is attracting the creatures. In private, Johns suggests to Riddick that they wound Jack and leave her behind as a distraction. Riddick pretends to agree, then attacks Johns—injuring him and leaving him to be killed by the creatures. At Riddick's urging, the remaining group sprints through the canyon as the creatures begin cannibalizing one another. After reaching the other side, rain begins to fall, extinguishing their improvised torches. Suleiman is killed in the ensuing attack. Riddick initially moves on alone but ultimately returns to fight off the creatures and save Jack. He hides Fry, Abu al-Walid, and Jack in a cave, then sets out to retrieve the dropship. Suspicious, Fry follows and finds him preparing to take off and abandon them. Fry pleads with Riddick to help her save the others, but he urges her to escape with him instead. Guilt-ridden over her earlier attempt to sacrifice her passengers, she refuses, admitting she would now die to protect the others. Together, they rescue Abu al-Walid and Jack (with small, bioluminescent native lifeforms), but Riddick is cornered and wounded by the creatures. Fry returns to save him, but she is fatally stabbed by one of the creatures and carried off. Riddick returns to the ship but delays takeoff, allowing the creatures to gather around it before using the engines to incinerate as many as possible. Once in space, Jack asks what they should tell the authorities about him; he tells them that Riddick died on the planet.

In 1972, Russell Stevens Jr. witnesses his drug-addicted, alcoholic father getting shot and killed while robbing a liquor store. Traumatized by his father's death, Stevens swears that he will never end up like him. Nineteen years later, Stevens is a Cincinnati police officer. He is recruited by DEA Special Agent Gerald Carver to go undercover in Los Angeles, claiming that his criminal-like character traits will serve him better in this capacity than they would as a uniformed cop. Stevens poses as drug dealer "John Hull" in order to infiltrate and work his way up the network of the West Coast 's largest drug importer, Anton Gallegos, and his uncle Hector Guzmán, a South American politician. Stevens relocates to a cheap hotel and begins dealing cocaine. One day, Stevens is arrested by the devoutly religious LAPD Narcotics Detective Taft and his corrupt partner, Hernández, as he buys a kilogram in a set-up by Eddie Dudley, Gallegos's low-level street supplier. At his arraignment, Stevens discovers that he bought baby laxative instead of cocaine and his case is dismissed. His self-appointed attorney David Jason, who is also a drug trafficker in Gallegos's network, rewards Stevens's silence with more cocaine and introduces him to Felix Barbosa, the underboss to Gallegos. Felix kills Eddie when he finds out he's working with the LAPD and enlists Stevens as his replacement. Stevens develops a romance with Betty McCutcheon, the manager of an art dealership which is a front to launder Jason's drug money. When one of Stevens's dealers is murdered by a rival dealer, he is informed by Jason that if he doesn't retaliate, other street dealers will view it as a sign of weakness and in turn murder him. Stevens follows the rival dealer to a nightclub, corners him in a bathroom and kills him. Jason then partners with Stevens in his new business: distribution of a synthetic chemical variant of cocaine. It is revealed that Felix is a confidential informant working with Hernández. After a falling out, Jason becomes more sadistic, and Stevens correctly deduces that Felix wants Jason killed to eliminate his competition. Felix immediately gives up Stevens, Jason and Betty to Hernández, and wants Jason killed during the arrest. Carver knows about this but refuses to interfere, forcing Stevens to violate orders and stop the murder himself by exposing Felix, which results in a vengeful Jason killing him. The killing results in Betty reneging on the drug business, with Stevens's protection. Gallegos comes to meet with Stevens and Jason, informing them that they have inherited Felix's debts to him. Later that day, Stevens meets with Carver to tell him about his meeting with Gallegos. Instead, Carver pulls a gun on Stevens and orders him to surrender his weapon and get in his car. Angrily, Stevens disarms Carver and forces him to admit that the State Department has decided to leave Gallegos alone because Guzmán may someday be useful as a political asset to them; Carver has decided to play along in exchange for career advancement. Disillusioned, Stevens abandons his undercover status and vows to take down Gallegos and Guzmán alone. Stevens and Jason learn that Gallegos is going to kill them anyway, so they kill him first and steal a van storing over $100 million in cash. They then invite Guzmán to a shipyard and offer to return 80% of Gallegos's money if he agrees to invest the remaining 20% in their synthetic cocaine operation. Taft, who has been tailing Stevens, interrupts the deal and has his gun taken by Guzmán’s men. Since he is unable to arrest Guzmán because of his diplomatic immunity, Guzmán leaves. Taft orders Stevens to surrender but is shot by Jason after attempting to brandish his backup weapon, forcing Stevens to reveal himself as a police officer as he tries to radio in for an ambulance to help Taft. Stevens tries to reason with Jason as the latter tries to convince him to just take the money and go rogue. Jason shoots Taft in the chest, killing him. Throwing all reason out of the window and seeing no other alternative, Stevens attempts to arrest Jason. When Jason shoots at him, a tearful Stevens returns fire and kills Jason in self-defense as the cops arrive. Afterward, Carver coerces Stevens into testifying in favor of him and the DEA in return for not charging Betty with money laundering. He produces a videotape of the incriminating conversation with Guzmán at the shipyard during his testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee, ruining the State Department's intentions along with Guzmán and Carver's careers. Later, he contemplates what to do with the $11 million of Gallegos's money he secretly kept.

In 1999 Los Angeles, Hannon Fuller owns a multibillion-dollar computer enterprise and is the inventor of a newly completed virtual reality (VR) simulation of 1937 Los Angeles, filled with simulated humans unaware they are computer programs. When Fuller is murdered just as he begins premature testing of the VR system, his friend and protégé, Douglas Hall, who is also the heir to the company, becomes the primary suspect. The evidence against him is so strong that Hall begins to doubt his own innocence. Between interrogations by LAPD Detective Larry McBain, Hall meets Jane Fuller, Hannon's estranged daughter, who intends to shut down the new VR system. Hall then romances her. When a local bartender is murdered after he claims to have witnessed a meeting between Hall and Fuller on the night Fuller was murdered, Hall is arrested. He is released when Jane gives him an alibi. With the assistance of his associate Jason Whitney, Hall attempts to find a message that Fuller left for him inside the simulation. Entering the virtual reality, Hall becomes a bank clerk named John Ferguson. Hall learns that Fuller left the message with a bartender named Jerry Ashton, who read the message and discovered he is an artificial creation. Ashton becomes suspicious of Hall, as once Hall leaps out of Ferguson in the men's restroom of the hotel where Ashton works, Ferguson does not know where he is. When Hall enters the simulation later, He goes to Ashton and asks about the letter. Frightened and angry about the true nature of his world, Ashton tries to kill Hall. Hall barely survives to escape the VR. McBain informs Hall that Jane does not exist, as Fuller never had a daughter. Hall tracks her down only to discover her double, Natasha Molinaro, working as a grocery store clerk, but Molinaro does not recognize Hall. This leads Hall to perform an experiment outside the VR system, something that Fuller's message instructed him to try: drive to a place where he never would have considered going otherwise. He does so, and discovers a point beyond which the world becomes a crude wireframe model. Hall grasps the intended revelation behind Fuller's message: 1999 Los Angeles is itself a simulation. Jane explains the truth to Hall: his world is one of thousands of virtual worlds, but it is the only one in which one of the occupants has developed a virtual world of their own. Jane Fuller lives in the real world outside the 1990s Los Angeles simulation. After Fuller's death, she entered the virtual version to assume the guise of Fuller's daughter, gain control of the company, and shut down the simulated 1937 reality, a plan foiled by Hall being made the company heir. The virtual Hall is modeled after David, Jane's real-world husband, though Jane has since fallen in love with Hall. David committed the murders via Hall's body, being driven to increasingly jealous and psychopathic behavior from prolonged use of VR to live out his dark fantasies. Whitney enters the 1937 simulation as Ashton, who has kidnapped Ferguson and bound him in the trunk of his car. When Whitney is killed in a car crash inside the 1937 simulation, Ashton's consciousness takes control of Whitney's body in the 1990s simulation and takes Hall hostage. Hall tells Ashton that he is not in the real world, and that they are both products of a VR simulation. Hall takes Ashton to the place where he was 'born': a computer lab. David assumes control of Hall again to kill Ashton and then attempts to rape and murder Jane. Jane is rescued by Detective McBain, who shoots and kills David. McBain at this point has realized the nature of his own reality, and jokingly asks Jane if someone will unplug him. She answers "no", so McBain requests that Jane never meddle with the simulation again. David's death as Hall in the 1990s simulation allows Hall's consciousness to take control of David's body in the real world. He wakes in 2024, connected to a VR system. He disconnects the system and finds Jane and her father, upon whom Hannon Fuller was modeled. Jane wants to tell Hall all about the simulation, and just as she begins, the film ends; the screen image collapses to a thin line of light before going dark, like a computer monitor being turned off.

The small town of Garrison, New Jersey, is home to a cadre of corrupt police officers from the NYPD 's 37th Precinct, including Lieutenant Ray Donlan, Detective Leo Crasky, and officers Gary Figgis, Jack Rucker, Frank Lagonda and Joey Randone. Exploiting a loophole to live outside of the city as "auxiliary transit cops", Donlan and his men are effectively untouchable by internal affairs, and are further protected by the local sheriff, Freddy Heflin. Having lost his hearing in one ear while rescuing a woman from the Hudson River as a young man, Heflin is unable to fulfill his lifelong dream of joining the NYPD. Donlan's nephew, Officer Murray ”Superboy” Babitch, is sideswiped by two youths while driving across the George Washington Bridge; believing one of them has a weapon, a frightened Babitch fatally shoots them both. Donlan, Rucker and Crasky try to plant a gun in the teens' car but are caught by a paramedic, leading Donlan to fake Babitch's suicide before hiding him in Garrison. Heflin discovers that Randone is having an affair with Donlan's wife Rose, but he and his deputies Cindy and Bill turn a blind eye to Donlan and his men. Heflin reconnects with Randone's wife Liz—the woman whom he saved from drowning—and they confess their feelings for each other. The cocaine -addicted Figgis is kicked out of Donlan's circle, and his house soon burns down with his girlfriend inside. Letting Figgis stay at his home, Heflin refuses to help internal affairs investigator Moe Tilden build his case against Donlan. Fearing that Babitch will expose them, Donlan and his men try to drown his nephew, who escapes and goes to Heflin for help, but flees when he sees Figgis. Unwilling to hunt down Babitch, Randone is thrown off a roof during a struggle with a violent suspect, and Donlan chooses not to save him. Tired of being pushed around by Donlan and his men, Heflin goes to Tilden but learns that the mayor, under pressure from Donlan's allies in the police union, has shut down the investigation. Stealing Tilden's discarded files, Heflin realizes that Donlan's ties to organized crime allowed him to create a safe haven in Garrison while trafficking drugs through the 37th Precinct, and he had Figgis's partner killed before he could testify against him. Bill is reluctant to become involved, and Cindy leaves for her old department, having lost faith in Heflin's leadership. Rucker tries to intimidate Heflin at a carnival's pistol game, but he is surprised to find Heflin is a crack shot, as is Lagonda after Heflin is chided by Liz for digging into Donlan. Heflin realizes that Figgis set fire to his own house, and Figgis admits that he committed insurance fraud to use the payout to leave Garrison for a new life. Convincing Rose to reveal where her nephew is hiding, Heflin takes Babitch into custody and sends Bill away for his own protection, but they are ambushed by Lagonda and Rucker, who capture Babitch and fire a gun next to Heflin's good ear. Completely deafened, Heflin follows them to Donlan's residence. In the ensuing shootout, he kills Lagonda and Rucker, but is wounded by Crasky. Figgis arrives, killing Crasky and distracting Donlan before he can shoot Heflin in the back, and Heflin fatally shoots Donlan. Driving to NYPD headquarters, Heflin and Figgis deliver Babitch to Tilden. Figgis turns state's evidence, resulting in sweeping arrests and indictments across the police union, the mob and the 37th Precinct. Recovering the hearing in his good ear, Heflin continues to serve as sheriff in Garrison.

Ngoc Minh Quan, a Chinese-Vietnamese-British widower, Vietnam War veteran, and former special forces operator, runs a Chinese restaurant in London. He lost two daughters to pirates when he escaped Vietnam, and his wife died when his daughter, Fan, was born. Fan and 11 other people are killed in a terrorist bombing in Knightsbridge; an IRA splinter group dubbing itself the "Authentic IRA" claims responsibility. Quan visits Scotland Yard daily for information and offers Commander Bromley £20,000 for the names of the bombers. Though sympathetic, Bromley tells him he is hindering the investigation. Quan leaves the restaurant with his friend and partner, Lam. Later, Quan travels to Belfast to meet deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and Sinn Féin political advisor Liam Hennessy, a former Provisional IRA leader who has renounced violence. Quan demands the names of the bombers, but Hennessy denies any knowledge, so Quan sets off a homemade bomb in Hennessy's building and leaves a fake explosive on Hennessy's car as a warning. Hennessy orders IRA weapons dumps searched for missing Semtex and tells his right-hand man, Jim Kavanagh, to get Quan out of the city. Hennessy's men track Quan, but he fights them off and escapes. Later, Quan photographs Hennessy kissing his mistress, Maggie Dunn, and threatens to blackmail him. Hennessy enlists his nephew Sean Morrison, a former Royal Irish Regiment soldier and skilled tracker, to meet with Bromley. Morrison tells Bromley that each IRA cell will change code words to identify the rogue bombers; Bromley agrees to assist on condition that the British take them out, not the IRA. Quan follows Hennessy to his farmhouse and attacks it with more bombs. As Hennessy's men search for him, Quan maims them with traps before he is wounded by Kavanagh, forcing him to flee. Hennessy's former IRA commander, Hugh McGrath, confronts him about the searches, accusing Hennessy of caring more about his position within the British government than the IRA's cause. Soon after, Quan also confronts Hennessy, threatening him and giving him 24 hours to reveal the names of the bombers. A double-decker bus is blown up in London, killing 16 more people, but no code word is given, creating distrust between Hennessy and Bromley. Bromley notifies Hennessy that they have discovered the bomber's identity and tracked McGrath to his farm. Bromley threatens to raid the farm unless Hennessy forces McGrath to reveal who and where the terrorists are. Hennessy tortures McGrath and gets the names, including his mistress Maggie, whose real name is Sara McKay. Hennessy learns that his own wife, Mary, masterminded the attacks because her brother was murdered by a UVF death squad. She hates both the British and her husband for allowing his killers to be jailed rather than executed. Hennessy kills McGrath and shares the information with Morrison. Morrison finds Quan's hideout, but Quan subdues him and gets the names of the killers and their location. After Morrison is released and returns to the farm, Hennessy reprimands him for unintentionally leaking information to Mary, with whom he is having an affair, and orders him to bury McGrath's body. Quan enters the bombers' London flat disguised as a gasman. He kills all of them except Sara, who is wounded in the scuffle. Quan escapes just before MI5 and SO15 storms the flat. They torture Sara into disclosing the location of the next bomb, which is planted in a reporter's laptop to be detonated on a plane carrying British dignitaries to a conference. Airport police locate the reporter and throw the laptop into an air bridge, which explodes without any casualties. McKay is executed to tie up loose ends. British cabinet minister Katherine Davies, who was scheduled to be on the targeted flight, calls Hennessy to tell him she knows of his involvement, but having helped prevent the attack, he can remain as deputy First Minister, albeit under her control. Meanwhile, Morrison kills Mary, effectively eliminating the terrorist cell. Quan confronts Hennessy with a picture showing him kissing Maggie. He forces Hennessy to post the photo online, publicizing his links to the terrorists. Quan returns to the restaurant and reunites with Lam. Realizing Quan's role, Bromley decides not to take further action against Quan and keeps him under surveillance for the time being.

The French Rubis-class nuclear attack submarine Titane (Titanium) in the original French version – is sent near the Mediterranean coast of Tartus, Syria to stealthily recover a French Special Forces unit operating in the area. The submarine sails under the command of Captain Grandchamp and Executive Officer (XO) D'Orsi. However, during their mission they encounter an unidentified sonar contact. The sonar expert of the submarine, Chanteraide – nicknamed "Socks", and serving as "golden ear", the officer specialized in underwater acoustics – first classifies the contact as a wounded whale, but it quickly turns out that the contact is an unknown submarine transmitting their position to an Iranian frigate and a maritime helicopter operating in the area. The helicopter launches depth charges in what seems to be an unprovoked act of aggression which, however, is a valid defensive measure as the Titan is in fact violating sovereign Syrian waters while recovering a foreign force that has already engaged in combat and killed Syrian nationals, which can also be considered justified intervention against a dictatorship in an ongoing civil war. After evading the barrage, the Titan surfaces, and the captain shoots down the helicopter with a Panzerfaust 3. They recover the Special Forces unit and return to base. When the Titan returns to base, the radio announces that Russia is invading Finland's Åland Islands, and that the French President has decided to send a naval task force to the Baltic Sea in support of Finland. The Russian government then threatens nuclear retaliation against the French Republic. Chanteraide, trying to identify the unknown contact in Syria, hacks into his superior officer's computer and after conducting research at a bookstore where he starts a romantic relationship with Diane, as well as the naval archives, discovers that it is in fact a Russian Timour III ballistic missile submarine, supposedly dismantled. Meanwhile, Grandchamp is promoted for his actions to command the Triomphant-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine SSBN L'Effroyable (Dreadful) in the original French version – while D'Orsi takes over command of Titan. During a test the day before the mission, Chanteraide, along with ALFOST and CIRA, also analyzed the spectrum of Russian, British and American submarines, as well as the sound spectrum of another Triomphant-class nuclear submarine, the SSBN L'implacable (Unbeatable) - in the original French version, which had been built together with L'Effroyable. By comparing the recordings from both submarines, Chanteraide finds that the L'Effroyable's reactor was re-machined after an incident. The L'Effroyable is launched with its new captain and the Titane as its escort submarine. Chanteraide is pulled aside during roll call and Grandchamp explains he has failed his drug test and will not be boarding the submarine. Chanteraide distresses at the now empty dock but after an air raid siren sounds, runs into the bunker where the naval staff have relocated. The French military command detects a Russian R-30 nuclear missile being launched by the Timour III from the Bering Sea, prompting the French President to order the L'Effroyable to launch one of its nuclear missiles against Russia in response. In the command bunker, Chanteraide finds an anomaly while listening to the recording of the launch - the missile sounds too light, because it was launched without a nuclear warhead. Chanteraide and his superior officer, the admiral in command of the Strategic Oceanic Force (the ALFOST) immediately call the Chief of Staff, but the Chief of Staff puts them on hold as the US Secretary of State has also called. The Secretary of State reveals critical intelligence that the terrorist organisation Al-Jadida had illegally bought the decommissioned Timour III submarine from a corrupt admiral and launched an empty missile at France, tricking the French into an irrevocable procedure to launch a nuclear counterstrike from the L'Effroyable. The ALFOST and Chanteraide are then flown by helicopter to the Titan in an attempt to stop the nuclear launch by all means necessary. Grandchamp prepares to fire the nuclear missile, following procedure and eliminating all outside communication while keeping the submarine in stealth mode. After D'Orsi is rebuffed in his efforts to communicate with Grandchamp via underwater telephone, he attempts to approach L'Effroyable by swimming to it in person. He is killed when Grandchamp launches a torpedo at Titan to prevent their attempts to foil his missile launch. This torpedo grazes the Titan and only causes minor damage. Titan then launches its own torpedo at L'Effroyable. L'Effroyable then returns fire. While Chanteraide breaks down under the pressure of targeting his former commander, the ALFOST is able to use his experience from formerly commanding L'Effroyable to predict Grandchamp's evasive actions. Titan 's torpedo explodes above the L'Effroyable 's bridge, as Grandchamp is able to release ballast air and throw the torpedo enough off target to prevent direct impact, although the control room is devastated. L'Effroyable 's torpedo hits Titan which begins to sink. Grandchamp orders the evacuation of the carbon monoxide filled control room and denies appeals to issue an SOS call, intending to follow orders and launch the nuclear missile first. On the Titane, Chanteraide and the ALFOST, the sole survivors of the torpedo impact, escape the burning area of the ship, Chanteraide makes a last call to the L'Effroyable over an underwater telephone. Chanteraide recalls Grandchamp's prior trust in him, and begs him not to fire the missile, before saying goodbye in the face of his impending death on the stricken Titan. With his dying breath, Grandchamp removes the nuclear targeting board, preventing the missile from being launched. The ALFOST is able to evacuate Chanteraide via the escape hatch, but is unable to evacuate himself. As Chanteraide surfaces in a lifejacket, his eardrums are destroyed. Chanteraide is rescued by a helicopter. A deaf Chanteraide attends a memorial held on a submarine for the fallen French sailors. The final scene shows Chanteraide reuniting with his girlfriend Diane.

Frank White, a drug lord, strives to control New York City 's criminal underground. Shortly after his release from Sing Sing Penitentiary, White and his crew, led by his trigger-happy right-hand man Jimmy Jump, consolidate power by eliminating their rivals in the Colombian drug cartel and Triad. White personally executes a Mafia boss who refuses to cooperate with him. White's exploits catch the attention of the NYPD 's narcotics squad. Detectives Bishop, Gilley and Flanigan confront White but lack any tangible evidence to arrest him. They instead turn their attention to White's henchmen, whom they arrest after a surviving member of the Colombian drug cartel agrees to cooperate with the police. White's lawyers intervene and free the men from jail. Gilley and Flanigan, extremely frustrated at White's use of the law to dodge justice, decide to simply murder White and his crew. They storm a night club where White is partying and kill many of his men. White and Jump survive the raid but are chased by Gilley and Flanigan. Jump ambushes and mortally wounds Flanigan. Gilley is unable to resuscitate his partner, and shoots Jump in the head in a fit of rage. A grief-stricken Gilley attends Flanigan's funeral, where he is abruptly assassinated by White in a drive-by shooting. White then confronts detective Bishop in his own apartment. He holds him at gunpoint while explaining that he eliminated the Colombian drug cartel and Triad in New York City because he disapproved of their involvement in human trafficking and child prostitution. White restrains Bishop to a chair and leaves. Bishop uses a gun in from nearby drawer and frees himself and chases White into the subway. Both men draw guns on each other, but White uses an innocent bystander as a human shield. The two exchange gunfire and Bishop is killed. White exits the subway and makes his way to a taxi in Times Square. He clutches a gunshot wound to his torso and watches as police surround his taxi. White goes limp as the police close in on him.

Second-term Democratic U.S. President Jackson Evans must select a new Vice President following the sudden death of his vice president, Troy Ellard. The obvious choice seems to be Virginia Governor Jack Hathaway, who is hailed as a hero after he recently dove into a lake in a failed attempt to save a drowning woman. The President instead decides that his " swan song " will be helping to break the glass ceiling by nominating Ohio Senator Laine Hanson. In accordance with the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, approval from both houses of Congress is required. Standing in her way is Republican Congressman Sheldon Runyon of Illinois, who believes she is unqualified for the position, and backs Hathaway for the nod. His investigation into her background turns up an incident where she was apparently photographed participating in a drunken orgy as part of a sorority initiation. He is joined in his opposition by Democratic Representative Reginald Webster. The confirmation hearings begin in Washington, D.C., and Runyon, who chairs the committee, quickly addresses Hanson's alleged sexual imbroglio. Hanson refuses to address the incident, neither confirming nor denying anything, and tries to turn the discussion towards political issues. Anticipating that Hanson would deem her personal past "none of anyone's business", Runyon starts rumors in the media saying that the sexual escapade in college was done in exchange for money and favors, making it prostitution. Hanson meets with Evans and offers to withdraw her name, to save his administration more embarrassment. Despite the wishes of the administration, she refuses to fight back or even address Runyon's charges, arguing that to answer the questions dignifies them being asked in the first place—something she does not believe. Evans meets with Runyon, informing him he will not choose Hanson as vice president. Runyon casually brings forward Hathaway as a replacement. They make an agreement that Runyon will back down on his attacks if Evans chooses Hathaway as vice president. However, Evans requests Runyon to make a public statement defending Hathaway, which Runyon agrees to do. Hanson, Hathaway, and Runyon are all invited to the White House where Evans shocks them with an FBI report revealing that Hathaway paid the woman to drive off the bridge. Hathaway is arrested and Runyon is disgraced because he vouched for Hathaway's integrity just hours earlier. Evans meets with Hanson, and she finally tells what actually happened that night in college. She said that she did indeed arrive at a fraternity house to have sex with two men as part of an initiation, but changed her mind before any sex occurred. However, she did not prove her innocence, citing that by doing so will further the idea that it was acceptable to ask the questions in the first place. Evans addresses Congress, where he chastises all Democrats and Republicans who blocked Hanson's confirmation. He explicitly lambasts Runyon, who leaves in humiliation. Although he declares that Hanson had asked for her nomination to be withdrawn so he could finish his presidency with triumph over controversy, he remains adamant by rejecting her resignation and calls for an immediate confirmation vote.

Rožat "Rusty" Sabich is the right-hand man of Kindle County prosecutor Raymond Horgan and is known as an effective and ruthless prosecutor. In his most recent case, Rusty oversees the prosecution of a mother who tortured her son by placing his head in a vise in their basement, delivering a damning closing argument where he uses the boy's own words - "mommy hurt my head" - to convict her. Shortly thereafter, Rusty's colleague Carolyn Polhemus is found raped and murdered in her apartment. Horgan insists that Rusty take charge of the investigation, as he faces a fierce re-election challenge from Nico Della Guardia and Tommy Molto, both disgruntled former members of his office. Rusty faces a conflict of interest since he had a brief sexual affair with Carolyn; despite having since reconciled with his wife Barbara, he remains obsessed with Carolyn. Det. Harold Greer is initially in charge of the murder investigation, but Rusty has him replaced with his friend Dan "Lip" Lipranzer, whom he asks to limit the scope of the murder investigation. Horgan loses patience with Rusty's handling of the case, particularly after admitting he also had a brief relationship with Carolyn. When Della Guardia wins the election, he and Molto (who replaces Rusty as chief deputy) reappoint Greer to take over the case. Greer learns about the affair, and Rusty is arrested and indicted for Carolyn's murder. Rusty hires Sandy Stern as his lawyer, while the case is assigned to Judge Larren Lyttle. As the trial begins, an important piece of evidence - a beer glass with Rusty's fingerprints - goes missing and Lyttle refuses to delay until it is found. Horgan perjures himself on the stand, claiming Rusty insisted on handling the investigation and was deliberately slow in pursuing leads. However, Stern forces Raymond to admit that Rusty never confessed to having an affair with Carolyn, and Raymond's own affair with her caused him to show improper favoritism. Lip uncovers that Carolyn had stolen a file for a bribery case involving a criminal named Leon Wells, one of Carolyn's old clients from her days as a probation officer. Wells confesses that Carolyn helped him solicit and deliver bribe money to Judge Lyttle to escape prosecution. The thrust of Stern's defense is that Della Guardia and Molto have framed Rusty to exploit the case's public notoriety, repeatedly referencing the missing file to unsettle Lyttle. During cross-examination of the coroner, it is revealed that Carolyn underwent a tubal ligation, thus having no reason to use the spermicidal contraceptive which was found on her. Stern then proves the fluid sample was not actually taken from Carolyn's body, implying the coroner is complicit in framing Rusty. Based on the disappearance of the beer glass, the lack of motive, and the fluid sample's validity nullified, Judge Lyttle promptly dismisses the charges against Rusty. Rusty confronts Stern about the bribery file, believing that he blackmailed Lyttle into dismissing. Stern reveals that Lyttle also had a sexual relationship with Carolyn and that both he and Raymond knew that Lyttle was taking bribes. Though Lyttle had offered his resignation, Raymond felt that he was a brilliant judge and deserved another chance. Despite this, Stern believes Lyttle tried the case with integrity. He then pointedly asks Rusty if justice really was served, implying he has doubts. Lip meets with Rusty and reveals the missing beer glass, explaining he didn't bother returning it to evidence when he was taken off the case. He admits he also doubts Rusty's innocence. Disillusioned, Rusty throws the glass into a river. While repairing a fence on his property, Rusty discovers a small hatchet coated with blood and hair and realizes it is the murder weapon. Barbara discovers him cleaning it and, in a detached monologue, admits she murdered Carolyn because of the affair, which drove her into a near-suicidal depression. She explains she had left enough evidence for Rusty to know it was her but did not anticipate him being charged. In a voice-over, Rusty explains that Carolyn's murder remains unsolved as trying two people for the same crime is impossible and he could never bring himself to take Barbara away from their son. Rusty accepts his role in bringing about Carolyn's death, stating that as with most cases there is "a crime, a victim, and punishment".

In 1933, Gareth Jones is an ambitious young journalist, who has gained some renown for his interview with Adolf Hitler. The son of an English teacher in the Welsh colony of Hughesovka in Soviet Ukraine, Jones is troubled by the question of how Stalin 's Soviet Union can be having a spending spree, as the numbers do not add up. Jones works as a political advisor to David Lloyd George, the former British prime minister, but with funding limited owing to the economic difficulties, and after failing to make his case in a critical meeting, he is made redundant. Trading on his connections in Britain and in Russia, Jones manages to obtain a Russian visa with the intention of setting up an interview with Stalin. Upon arrival in Moscow, he meets Eugene Lyons, a Russian-American journalist, who is with a party of British engineers from Metropolitan-Vickers; they take him to a party at the home of Walter Duranty and give him cryptic hints that the Soviets are not as enlightened as they make out, and that Stalin's ability to pay for British engineers or new factories may not rest on the famed efficiency of the Ukrainian farms as they have claimed. He is also informed that journalists are forbidden to venture outside of Moscow. Through a chance meeting with fellow British journalist Ada Brooks—who is under close observation by the OGPU, the Soviet secret police—he learns that his contact in Moscow was murdered by the authorities while investigating the supposed Ukrainian agricultural revolution. Armed with this information, Jones alters his documents to make him appear to be still employed by Lloyd George and obtains an invitation to Ukraine by the Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov. On the train journey south, Jones takes advantage of a brief stop to leave his train and sneak onto another train, which is taking starving peasant workers to Hughesovka—now renamed Stalino. At Stalino, he finds that all of the grain shipments are being immediately sent to Moscow, but he is labelled a foreign spy and forced to flee into the woods. After escaping, he witnesses almost abandoned villages, with the remaining peasants dying in their own homes. After travelling for several days, he is told by locals that the famine has been started deliberately by Moscow. He is then caught by the OGPU. Taken to a Soviet prison, Jones briefly encounters the engineers whom he met in Moscow, who have now also been accused of espionage. Under interrogation, he is told that he will be sent back to London without charges, with an expectation that he will repeat to the press the story the Soviets wish to be heard: that Ukraine is the breadbasket of the USSR and any stories of a famine are rumours. Only if he does this, will the Russians agree to release the engineers. Back in London, his publisher introduces him to George Orwell, who persuades Jones to tell the truth for the greater good. In response to Jones's claims, Duranty—who through bribery is using his position to act as a propaganda mouthpiece for Stalin—mobilises his contacts to rebut any stories of famine in Ukraine. Litvinov similarly puts pressure on Lloyd George to force Jones to retract his claims. He refuses, but becomes a pariah as the public turns on him. Out of desperation, he returns to his father's home in Wales, but later hears that the American media mogul William Randolph Hearst is at a nearby stately home that he owns. Jones manages to reach him and persuades him to use his publications to revive the accusations of induced famine. The extra publicity revives public belief in the truth of the Holodomor. The film ends by recording that Jones died two years later while reporting in Inner Mongolia. Travelling with a fellow journalist who was also a member of the Comintern, he was kidnapped by bandits and executed.

In 1967, Edward Jessup is a Columbia University psychopathologist studying schizophrenia. He thinks that "our other states of consciousness are as real as our waking states." He begins experimenting with sensory deprivation using a flotation tank, aided by like-minded researchers, Arthur Rosenberg and Mason Parrish. At a faculty party, he meets fellow "whiz kid" and his future wife, Emily. Over a decade later, Edward is a tenured professor at Harvard Medical School. He and Emily have two daughters and are on the brink of divorce when they reunite – for the first time in seven years – with the couple who had first introduced them. When Edward hears about the Hinchi tribe, whose members experience shared hallucinatory states, he decides to travel to Mexico in order to participate in their ceremony. During the climb up into the Hinchi hill country (a plateau covered in spectacular mushroom-shaped ventifacts), Edward is told by his guide, Eduardo Echeverria, that the Hinchi use in their ceremonies a potion containing the sacred mushroom Amanita muscaria and the shrub sinicuiche, which they are collecting for next year's ceremonies. The tribe calls sinicuiche by a Hinchi name meaning "first/primordial flower" in recognition of the deep memory states which it can evoke. An indigenous elder ("the brujo ") is seen with a root in his hand, which he asks Edward to hold, before cutting Edward's hand in order to add drops of blood to the mixture he is preparing. Immediately after consuming the mixture, Edward experiences bizarre, intense hallucinations, including one of the petrifaction and subsequent erosion by blown sand of Emily and himself. The following morning, Edward leaves the Hinchi plateau under a cloud, having killed, while in his intoxicated state, a large specimen of the Hinchi's sacred monitor lizard. He returns to the U.S. with a sample of the Hinchi potion for analysis by his colleagues and further self-experimentation and continues taking it in order to take his exploration of altered states of consciousness to a higher level. When toxic concentrations of the substance make increased dosage dangerous, Edward returns to sensory deprivation, believing it will enhance the effects of the substance at his current dose. Repairing a disused tank, he uses it to experience a series of increasingly drastic visions, including one of early Hominidae. Monitored by his colleagues, Edward insists that his visions have "externalized". Emerging from the tank, his mouth bloody, frantically writing notes because he is unable to speak, he insists on being X-rayed before he "reconstitutes." A radiologist inspecting the X-rays says they belong to a gorilla. In later experiments, Edward experiences actual, physical biological devolution. At one stage, he emerges from the isolation tank as a feral and curiously small-statured, light-skinned caveman, going on a rampage in town and breaking into a zoo before returning to his natural form. In the final experiment, he experiences a more profound regression, transforming into an amorphous mass of conscious, primordial matter. An energy wave released from the experiment stuns Edward's colleagues and destroys his tank. Emily recovers and finds a swirling maelstrom where the tank had been. She searches in the vortex for Edward, finding him as he is on the brink of becoming a non-corporeal energy being that will vanish from reality if this transformation reaches its conclusion. His friends bring Edward home, hoping that the transformations will end. Watched over by Emily, Edward begins to regress uncontrollably, the transformations no longer requiring the intake of "first flower" or sensory deprivation. Urging Edward to fight the change, Emily grabs his hand, being enveloped by the primordial energy emanating from him. The sight of Emily apparently being consumed by the energy stirs the human consciousness in Edward's devolving form. He fights the transformation off by banging repeatedly into the hallway wall and returns to his human form. Edward then grabs Emily's form, and she returns to normal. The movie ends with the two on the floor in a nude embrace as Edward tells Emily that he loves her, which she had longed to hear him say.