In order to break up the energy conglomerate of ailing competitor Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaite), Saito wants Cobb to plant the idea of dissolving the company into the mind of Fischer's heir, son Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). Should Cobb succeed, Saito tells Cobb he will use his influence to clear Cobb of a murder charge, which will allow Cobb to return home and to his children. Cobb accepts Saito's offer. Cobb sets about assembling his team: Eames (Tom Hardy), a conman and identity forger; Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative for a stable "dream within a dream" strategy; Ariadne (Ellen Page), an architecture student tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes; and Arthur. Saito insists on accompanying the team to verify the team's success.
When the elder Fischer dies in Sydney, Robert Fischer accompanies the body on a flight back to Los Angeles, which the team uses as an opportunity to isolate Fischer. Cobb sedates him, bringing him into a shared dream with the extractors. Using a "dream within a dream" strategy, at each level in the layered dreaming, the person generating the dream stays behind to set up a "kick" that will be used to awaken the other sleeping team members who have entered another dream layer deeper. Due to the effects of heavy sedation and multi-layered dreaming, death during the mission will result in entering Limbo, an expanse of infinite raw subconscious. Limbo is a space not dreamed by any one individual, but is shared space where one mind can make drastic alterations of any kind.
In the first level, Yusuf's rainy downtown dream, the team abducts Fischer; however, Fischer's trained subconscious projections attack, wounding Saito severely. Eames temporarily takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather, Peter Browning (Tom Berenger), to suggest Fischer reconsider his father's will. Yusuf drives the team in a van as they are sedated into the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Here, the extractors recruit Fischer, convincing him that his kidnapping was orchestrated by Browning and that they are Fischer's subconscious dependency. In the third level, a snowy mountain fortress dreamed by Eames, Fischer is told they are in Browning's subconscious, but they are really going deeper into Fischer's. Yusuf, under assault in the first level, initiates his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, removing the gravity of Arthur's dream world and causing an avalanche in Eames' dream, a kick which all missed. Arthur improvises a new kick using an elevator that will be synchronized with the van hitting the water, while the team in Eames' dream races to finish the job before the new round of kicks.
Saito succumbs to his wounds, and Cobb's projection of Mal sabotages the entire plan by killing Fischer, sending them both into Limbo.[15] Cobb and Ariadne enter Limbo to find Fischer and Saito, while Eames remains on his dream level to set up a kick by rigging the fortress with explosives. Cobb reveals to Ariadne that he spent "50 years" with Mal in Limbo constructing a world from their shared memories while seemingly growing old together. Returning to the waking world, Cobb and Mal found less than three hours had passed. Convinced she was still dreaming, Mal committed suicide and tried to persuade Cobb to do so too, by incriminating him in her death. Facing a murder charge Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind, ostensibly in the shared care of his mother- and father-in-law, Prof. Stephen Miles (Michael Caine).
Through his confession, Cobb attains catharsis and chooses to remain in Limbo to search for Saito. Ariadne pushes Fischer off a balcony, resuscitating him at the mountain fortress, where he enters a safe room to discover and accept the planted idea: that his father wishes him to be his "own man", and that splitting up the conglomerate might not be a radical notion. All team members other than Cobb and Saito ride the synchronized kicks back to reality: Ariadne jumps off a balcony in Limbo, Eames detonates the explosives in the fortress, Arthur blasts an elevator containing the team's sleeping bodies up an elevator shaft, and the van in Yusuf's dream hits the water. Cobb eventually finds an aged Saito in Limbo and the two remember their arrangement, presumably shooting themselves and waking to outer-world reality back on the airplane, where the entire team and Robert Fischer have awakened.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb successfully passes through U.S. customs to his waiting father-in-law, who reunites him with his children. Cobb attempts to determine if he is dreaming or awake by spinning a top, but ignores its outcome to instead happily greet his family
Jones returns to his teaching position at Marshall College, where he is interviewed by two Army intelligence agents. They inform him that the Nazis, who are obsessed with the occult, are searching for his old mentor Abner Ravenwood. The Nazis know that Ravenwood is the leading expert on the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis, and that he possesses the headpiece of the Staff of Ra. Jones deduces that the Nazis are searching for the location of the Ark of the Covenant; the Nazis believe that if they acquire the Ark their armies will become invincible. The Staff of Ra is the key to finding the Well of Souls, a secret chamber in which the Ark is buried.
The agents authorize Jones to recover the Ark before the Nazis. He travels to Nepal and discovers that Abner has died, and the headpiece is in the possession of Ravenwood's daughter Marion. Jones visits Marion at her tavern, where she reveals her bitter feelings toward him from a previous romantic affair. She rebuffs his offer to buy the headpiece, and Jones leaves. Shortly after, a group of Nazi soldiers arrive with their commander, Arnold Toht. They threaten Marion to get the headpiece, and her bar is set on fire when Jones comes back to intervene. Toht severely burns his hand trying to pick up the red-hot headpiece and runs from the tavern screaming. Jones and Marion escape with the headpiece, and Marion decides to accompany Jones in his search for the Ark so he can repay his debt.
The pair travel to Cairo, where they meet up with Jones's friend Sallah, a skilled excavator. Sallah informs them that Belloq and the Nazis are digging for the Well of Souls with a replica of the headpiece. They quickly realize the Nazi headpiece is incomplete and that the Nazis are digging in the wrong place. The Nazis kidnap Marion and it appears to Jones that she is killed in an explosion. After a confrontation with Belloq in a local bar, Jones and Sallah infiltrate the Nazi dig site and use their staff to correctly locate the Ark. Jones, Sallah, and a small group of diggers unearth the Well of Souls and Jones is forced to face his fear of snakes to acquire the Ark. Belloq and the Nazis arrive, seize the Ark from Jones, and throw Marion into the Well of Souls with him before sealing it back up. Jones and Marion escape to a local airstrip, where Jones has a brutal fistfight with a Nazi mechanic before blowing up a flying wing. The panicked Nazis remove the Ark in a truck and set off for Berlin, but Jones catches them and retakes it. He makes arrangements to take the Ark to London aboard a tramp steamer.
The next day the Nazis arrive and intercept the boat. Belloq and the Nazis seize the Ark and Marion but cannot locate Jones, who stows away aboard the Nazi U-boat and travels with them to an island in the Aegean Sea. Once there, Belloq plans to test the power of the Ark before presenting it to Hitler. Jones reveals himself and threatens to destroy the Ark with a bazooka, but Belloq calls the bluff and Jones surrenders rather than destroy such an important historical artifact. The Nazis take Jones and Marion to an area where the Ark will be opened and tie them to a post to observe. Belloq performs a ceremonial opening of the Ark, which appears to contain nothing but sand. Suddenly, angelic, ghost-like beings emerge from the Ark and float around the assembly. Jones cautions Marion to keep her eyes tightly closed and not to observe what happens next. Belloq and the others look on in astonishment as the apparitions suddenly transform into demonic creatures. A vortex of flame forms above the opened Ark and energy surges out into gathered Nazis, killing them all. Flames then engulf the remains of the doomed assembly, save for Jones and Marion. The Ark's lid is blasted high into the air before dropping back down onto the Ark and sealing it. Jones and Marion find their ropes burned off and embrace.
In Washington, D.C., the Army intelligence agents inform Jones and Brody that the Ark is someplace safe and will be studied by top men. The Ark is shown being permanently stored in a giant government warehouse among countless similar crates.
Chrissie is reported missing and her remains are later found on the beach by the Deputy of police chief Martin Brody. The medical examiner informs Brody that she was killed by a shark. Brody plans to close the beaches but is overruled by mayor Larry Vaughn, who fears that reports of a shark attack will ruin the summer tourist season, the town's primary source of income. The medical examiner consequently attributes the death to a boating accident. Brody reluctantly goes along with the explanation. The shark then kills a young boy swimming at the beach. His mother places a bounty on the shark, sparking an amateur shark-hunting frenzy and attracting the attention of local professional shark hunter Quint, who offers to kill the shark for $10,000. Marine biologist Matt Hooper examines Chrissie's remains and determines that she was killed by a shark, not a boat.
A large tiger shark is caught by fishermen, leading the townspeople to believe the problem is solved. Hooper asks to examine its stomach contents, but Vaughn refuses. That evening, Brody and Hooper secretly open the shark's stomach and discover that it does not contain human remains. They head out to sea to find the shark, but instead find the wreckage of a boat belonging to local fisherman Ben Gardner. Hooper explores the vessel underwater and discovers a sizable shark's tooth protruding from the damaged hull before he is startled by Gardner's corpse, causing him to drop the tooth. Despite Brody and Hooper's protests, without evidence, Vaughn refuses to close the beaches.
Many tourists arrive on the Fourth of July. A children's prank causes panic at the main beach while the shark enters a nearby estuary and kills a man. Brody's son Michael, who narrowly escapes the attack, goes into shock. Brody persuades Vaughn to hire Quint, and Quint reluctantly allows Hooper and Brody to join the hunt. The three set out to kill the shark aboard Quint's vessel, the Orca.
Brody is given the task of laying a chum line but an enormous great white looms up behind the boat, and the trio watch it circle the Orca. Quint estimates its size at twenty-five feet in length, with a weight of three tons. He harpoons it with a line attached to a flotation barrel, but the shark pulls the barrel underwater and disappears.
The men retire to the cabin, where Quint relates his experience with sharks as a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The shark returns, damages the hull and slips away. It reappears in the morning. Brody attempts to call the U.S. Coast Guard, but Quint destroys the radio. Quint harpoons two more barrels to the shark, and the men tie them both to the stern, but the shark drags the boat backwards, forcing water onto the deck and flooding the engine. Quint heads toward shore, hoping to draw it into shallow waters and suffocate it. In his obsession to kill the shark, Quint burns out the Orca's engine.
With the boat immobilized, the trio attempt a desperate approach: Hooper dons scuba gear and enters the ocean inside a shark proof cage, intending to stab the shark with a hypodermic spear filled with strychnine. The shark attacks the cage from behind, causing Hooper to drop the spear. When the shark becomes entangled in the wrecked cage, Hooper escapes and hides in the seabed. The shark then leaps onto the boat, crushing the transom. Quint slides down the deck and is eaten by the shark. When the shark attacks again, Brody shoves a pressurized scuba tank into its mouth, then takes Quint's rifle and climbs the sinking Orca's mast. The shark, with the tank still in its mouth, begins swimming toward Brody. Brody shoots the tank, causing it to explode and blowing the shark to pieces. Hooper resurfaces and he and Brody use the barrels to swim toward shore.
Sixty years later, Bilbo leaves the Ring to his nephew, Frodo Baggins. Upon learning that the Ring belonged to Sauron, the Wizard Gandalf the Grey warns Frodo that Sauron's forces will come for him. Gandalf catches Frodo's gardener Samwise Gamgee "eavesdropping" underneath a window and sends him with Frodo to leave the Shire. Gandalf rides to Isengard to meet with the head of his order, Saruman the White, who reveals that Sauron's servants, the Nazgûl, have been sent to capture the Ring. Saruman reveals himself to be in service to Sauron, and imprisons Gandalf atop his tower. Saruman commands Sauron's Orcs to construct weapons of war and produce a new breed of Orc fighters: the Uruk-hai.
While traveling to Bree, Frodo and Sam are joined by Merry and Pippin, and are nearly captured by the Nazgûl. At the Inn of the Prancing Pony, Frodo meets the mysterious ranger Aragorn, who hides them from their pursuers and agrees to lead them to Rivendell. During the journey they are attacked by the Nazgûl. Aragorn fights off the creatures, but Frodo is wounded by their morgul blade, which will turn him into a wraith. While being chased by the Nazgûl, Frodo is saved by the Elf Arwen who uses her magic to summon a surge of water that sweeps away the pursuing Nazgûl. Arwen takes Frodo to Rivendell where he is healed by her father, Elrond. Meanwhile, Gandalf escapes Saruman's tower with the aid of Gwaihir the eagle and travels to Rivendell. Elrond calls a council of the races still loyal to Middle-earth to decide what should be done with the Ring. It is revealed that the Ring can only be destroyed by throwing it into the fires of Mount Doom, where it was forged. When an argument ensues among the council members as to who would dare venture into Mordor, Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, and Aragorn. They are joined by the Elf Legolas, the Dwarf Gimli, and Boromir, man of Gondor, to form the Fellowship of the Ring.
The Fellowship set out but are hindered by Saruman's magic. They travel through the dwarf Mines of Moria. Inside, they find that Orcs have overrun the mines and slain the Dwarves; they also realize that Gollum is following them, determined to reclaim the Ring. The Fellowship is attacked by Orcs and a Balrog, an ancient demon of fire and shadow. Gandalf confronts the Balrog, allowing the others to escape, but both Gandalf and the Balrog fall into an abyss. Mourning Gandalf's death, the group flees to Lothlórien, where they are sheltered by its rulers, the Elves Galadriel and Celeborn. That night, Galadriel informs Frodo that it is his destiny to destroy the Ring. The Fellowship continue their journey. Meanwhile, Saruman assembles a force of Uruk-hai to hunt the Fellowship.
After arriving at Parth Galen, Boromir gives in to the Ring's corruption and tries to take it from Frodo, believing that it is the only way to save his realm. Frodo manages to escape by wearing the Ring and becoming invisible. Boromir realizes what he has done, and attempts to find Frodo, who decides to continue his journey alone, heeding Galadriel's warning that the Ring will eventually corrupt the other members of the Fellowship. The Uruk-hai arrive and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli attempt to hold them off while Frodo escapes. Merry and Pippin lead the Orcs away from Frodo and are nearly killed. Boromir tries to redeem himself by trying to save them, but in the process is shot fatally by the Uruk-Hai leader, Lurtz. The Uruk-Hai capture Merry and Pippin. Aragorn slays Lurtz and tends to a dying Boromir, and promises him that the world of men will not fall. Boromir realises that Aragorn has overcome the power of the Ring and is the true leader. He dies content with Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas by his side.
Sam finds Frodo, who reluctantly lets Sam join him. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli realise that Frodo has to walk a different path, and instead decide to rescue Merry and Pippin. As Frodo and Sam gaze out at the land before them, they grieve over the others. Frodo says that he is glad that Sam is with him and the two Hobbits set off towards Mordor.
The droids split up and are later captured by Jawa traders, who sell the pair to moisture farmers Owen and Beru and their nephew, Luke Skywalker. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he accidentally triggers part of Leia's message, in which she requests help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. The only "Kenobi" Luke knows of is an old hermit named Ben Kenobi who lives in the nearby hills. The next morning, Luke finds R2-D2, who fled the night before to seek Obi-Wan, and meets Ben Kenobi, who reveals himself to be Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan tells Luke of his days as a Jedi Knight, one of a faction of former galactic peacekeepers with supernatural powers derived from an energy field called the Force, who were wiped out by the Empire. Contrary to his uncle's statements, Luke learns that his father fought alongside Obi-Wan as a Jedi Knight before he was betrayed and killed by Vader, Obi-Wan's former pupil who turned to the dark side of the Force. Obi-Wan then offers Luke his father's lightsaber.
Obi-Wan views Leia's complete message in which she begs him to take the Death Star plans to her home planet of Alderaan and give them to her father for analysis. Obi-Wan invites Luke to accompany him to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force. Luke initially declines, but changes his mind after discovering that Imperial stormtroopers searching for C-3PO and R2-D2 have destroyed his home and killed his aunt and uncle. Obi-Wan and Luke hire smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate Chewbacca to transport them on their ship, the Millennium Falcon.
Upon the Falcon's arrival at Alderaan, they find out that the planet has been destroyed by order of the Death Star's commanding officer, Grand Moff Tarkin, in an attempt to force Leia to reveal the hidden base of the Rebellion, as well as to demonstrate the Death Star's power. The Falcon is captured by the Death Star's tractor beam and brought into its hangar bay. While Obi-Wan goes to disable the tractor beam, Luke discovers that Leia is imprisoned aboard and, with the help of Han and Chewbacca, rescues her. After several harrowing escapes, the group makes its way back to the Falcon. Obi-Wan engages in a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader and is killed. The Falcon escapes the Death Star, but unknowingly carries a tracking device that enables the Empire to follow it to the rebels' hidden base on Yavin IV.
The rebels analyze the Death Star plans and identify a vulnerable exhaust port that connects to the station's main reactor. Luke joins the rebel assault team. Han collects his payment for the transport to Alderaan and intends to leave in spite of Luke's request that he stay and help. During the Battle of Yavin, the rebels suffer heavy losses after several unsuccessful attack runs. Luke is one of the few surviving pilots. Vader and a group of TIE fighters prepare to attack Luke's X-wing ship, but Han Solo unexpectedly returns and destroys the TIE fighters. The blast sends Vader spiraling away. Helped by spiritual guidance from Obi-Wan to use the Force, Luke successfully destroys the Death Star seconds before it can fire on the rebel base. Luke and Han are later awarded medals by Leia for their heroism
"Prologue—The Diner"
"Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer) are having breakfast in a diner. They decide to rob it after realizing they could make money off the customers as well as the business, as they did during their previous heist. Moments after they initiate the hold-up, the scene breaks off and the title credits roll.Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
As Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) drives, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) talks about his experiences in Europe, from where he has just returned: the hashish bars in Amsterdam, the French McDonald's and its "Royale with Cheese." The pair—both wearing dress suits—are on their way to retrieve a briefcase from Brett (Frank Whaley), who has transgressed against their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace. Jules tells Vincent that Marsellus had someone thrown off a fourth-floor balcony for giving his wife a foot massage. Vincent says Marsellus has asked him to escort his wife while Marsellus is out of town. They conclude their banter and "get into character" which soon involves executing Brett in dramatic fashion after Jules recites a baleful "biblical" pronouncement."Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
In a virtually empty cocktail lounge, aging prizefighter Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) accepts a large sum of money from mobster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) after agreeing to take a dive in his upcoming match. Vincent and Jules—now dressed in T-shirts and shorts—arrive to deliver the briefcase, and Butch and Vincent briefly cross paths. The next day, Vincent drops by the house of Lance (Eric Stoltz) and his wife Jody (Rosanna Arquette) to purchase high-grade heroin. He shoots up before driving over to meet Mrs. Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and take her out. They head to Jack Rabbit Slim's, a 1950s-themed restaurant staffed by lookalikes of the decade's pop icons. Mia recounts her experience acting in a failed television pilot, Fox Force Five.After participating in a twist contest, they return to the Wallace house with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his stash of heroin in his coat pocket. Mistaking it for cocaine, she snorts it and overdoses. Vincent rushes her to Lance's house for help. Together, they administer an adrenaline shot to Mia's heart, reviving her. Before parting ways, Mia and Vincent agree not to tell Marsellus of the incident.
Prelude to "The Gold Watch"
Television time for young Butch (Chandler Lindauer) is interrupted by the arrival of Vietnam veteran Captain Koons (Christopher Walken). Koons explains that he has brought a gold watch, passed down through generations of Coolidge men since World War I. Butch's father died of dysentery while in a POW camp, and at his dying request Koons hid the watch in his rectum for two years in order to deliver it to Butch. A bell rings, startling the adult Butch out of this reverie. He is in his boxing colors—it is time for the fight he has been paid to throw."The Gold Watch"
Butch flees the arena, having won the bout. Making his getaway by cab, he learns from the death-obsessed driver, Esmarelda Villa Lobos (Angela Jones), that he killed the opposing fighter. Butch had bet his payoff on himself at favorable odds in a double-cross of Marsellus. The next morning, at the motel where he and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros), are lying low, Butch discovers that she has forgotten to pack the irreplaceable watch. He returns to his apartment to retrieve it, although Marsellus' men are almost certainly looking for him. Butch finds the watch quickly, but thinking he is alone, pauses for a snack. Only then does he notice a machine pistol on the kitchen counter. Hearing the toilet flush, Butch readies the gun and confronts a startled Vincent Vega exiting the bathroom. As the pair face each other in an intense standoff—during which time Butch is holding Vincent at bay with his own weapon—the (forgotten) toaster ejects the bread, making a sudden noise which causes Butch to pull the trigger and hit Vincent with a burst of fire, killing him.Butch drives away, but while waiting at a traffic light, Marsellus walks by and recognizes him. Butch rams Marsellus with the car, then another automobile collides with his. After a foot chase the two men land in a pawnshop. The shopowner, Maynard (Duane Whitaker), captures them at gunpoint and ties them up in a half-basement area. Maynard is joined by Zed (Peter Greene) the pawnshop's security guard; they take Marsellus to another room to rape him, leaving a silent masked figure referred to as "the gimp" to watch a tied-up Butch. Butch breaks loose and knocks out the gimp. He is about to flee, when he decides to save Marsellus. As Zed is sodomizing Marsellus on a pommel horse, Butch kills Maynard with a katana. Marsellus retrieves Maynard's shotgun and shoots Zed in the groin. Marsellus informs Butch that they are even with respect to the botched fight fix, so long as he never tells anyone about the rape and departs Los Angeles, that night, forever. Butch agrees and returns to pick up Fabienne on Zed's chopper.
"The Bonnie Situation"
The story returns to Vincent and Jules at Brett's. After they execute him, another man (Alexis Arquette) bursts out of the bathroom and shoots wildly at them, missing every time before an astonished Jules and Vincent return fire. Jules decides this is a miracle and a sign from God for him to retire as a hitman. They drive off with one of Brett's associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr), their informant. Vincent asks Marvin for his opinion about the "miracle" and accidentally shoots him in the face.Forced to remove their bloodied car from the road, Jules calls his friend Jimmie (Quentin Tarantino). Jimmie's wife, Bonnie, is due back from work soon, and he is very anxious that she does not encounter the scene. At Jules' request, Marsellus arranges for the help of his cleaner, Winston Wolfe (Harvey Keitel). "The Wolf" takes charge of the situation, ordering Jules and Vincent to clean the car, hide the body in the trunk, dispose of their own bloody clothes, and change into T-shirts and shorts provided by Jimmie. They drive the car to a junkyard, from where Wolfe and the owner's daughter, Raquel (Julia Sweeney), head off to breakfast. Jules and Vincent decide to do the same.
"Epilogue—The Diner"
As Jules and Vincent eat breakfast in a diner, the discussion returns to Jules' decision to retire. In a brief cutaway, "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny" appear shortly before they initiate the hold-up from the first scene of the film. While Vincent is in the bathroom, the hold-up commences. "Pumpkin" demands all of the patrons' valuables, including Jules' mysterious case. Jules surprises "Pumpkin" (whom he calls "Ringo"), holding him at gunpoint. "Honey Bunny" (whose actual name is Yolanda) becomes hysterical and trains her gun on Jules. Vincent emerges from the restroom with his gun trained on her, creating a Mexican standoff. Jules reprises the biblical passage he'd recited at Brett's place (Ezekiel 25:17), this time with sincerity rather than for effect. Jules expresses his ambivalence about his life of crime. As his first act of redemption, he allows the two robbers to take the cash they have stolen and leave, but they leave the briefcase behind for Jules and Vincent to return to Marsellus. Thus, Jules finishes his final job for his boss.
In 1949, Andy overhears the brutal captain of the guards Byron Hadley complaining about being taxed on an inheritance and offers to help him legally shelter the money. After a vicious assault by the Sisters nearly kills Andy, Hadley beats Bogs severely. Bogs is sent to another prison and Andy is never attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton meets with Andy and reassigns him to the prison library to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen. Andy's new job is a pretext for him to begin managing financial matters for the prison employees. As time passes, the warden begins using Andy to handle matters for a variety of people including guards from other prisons and the warden himself. Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state government for funds to improve the decaying library.
In 1954, Brooks is paroled, but cannot adjust to the outside world after fifty years in prison and hangs himself. Andy receives a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro. He plays an excerpt over the public address system, resulting in his receiving solitary confinement. After his release from solitary Andy explains that hope is what gets him through his time, a concept that Red dismisses. In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving kickbacks. He has Andy launder the money using the alias Randall Stephens.
In 1965, Tommy Williams is incarcerated for burglary. He joins Andy's and Red's circle of friends, and Andy helps him pass his G.E.D. exam. In 1966, Tommy reveals to Red and Andy that an inmate at another prison claimed responsibility for the murders Andy was convicted of, implying Andy's innocence. Andy approaches Warden Norton with this information, but the warden refuses to listen and sends Andy back to solitary when he mentions the money laundering. Norton then has Captain Hadley murder Tommy under the guise of an escape attempt. Andy refuses to continue the money laundering, but relents after Norton threatens to burn the library, remove Andy's protection from the guards, and move him out of his cell into worse conditions. Andy is released from solitary confinement and tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town. Red feels Andy is being unrealistic, but promises Andy that if he is ever released he will visit a specific hayfield near Buxton, Maine and retrieve a package Andy buried there. Red becomes worried about Andy's state of mind, especially when he learns Andy asked another inmate to supply him with six feet of rope.
The next day at roll call the guards find Andy's cell empty. An irate Warden Norton throws a rock at the poster of Raquel Welch hanging on the wall, and the rock tears through the poster. Removing the poster, the warden discovers a tunnel that Andy dug with his rock hammer over the previous two decades. The previous night, Andy escaped through the tunnel and used the prison's sewage pipe to reach freedom. Andy escapes with Norton's suit, shoes, and the ledger containing details of the money laundering. While guards search for him the following morning, Andy poses as Randall Stephens and visits several banks to withdraw the laundered money. Finally, he mails the ledger and evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper. The police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest.
After serving 40 years, Red is finally paroled. He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears he never will. Remembering his promise to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money and a letter asking him to come to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross the border to Mexico, admitting he finally feels hope. On a beach in Zihuatanejo he finds Andy, and the two friends are happily reunited.
Batman and Lt. Jim Gordon decide to include the new district attorney, Harvey Dent, in their plan to eradicate the mob. Although Dent is dating Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne is impressed with his idealism and offers to throw him a fundraiser. Mob bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol, and The Chechen hold a videoconference with Lau, a Chinese accountant who has hidden their funds and fled to Hong Kong. The Joker interrupts the meeting, warning that Batman is unhindered by jurisdiction. He offers to kill Batman for half their money, but the mob bosses refuse, and Gambol puts a bounty on him. The Joker kills Gambol and takes control of his men. Batman captures Lau and delivers him back to Gotham to testify against the Joker and the mob.
The Joker announces that people will die each day unless Batman reveals his identity. He then kills Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and the judge presiding over the mob trials. He also targets Dent at the fundraiser, but Bruce hides Dent. Gordon foils the Joker's assassination attempt on Mayor Garcia, apparently sacrificing himself in the process. Bruce plans to reveal his identity, but Dent instead names himself as Batman to protect the truth. Dent is taken into protective custody and pursued by the Joker across the city; Batman rushes to Dent's aid. Gordon, who faked his death, helps apprehend the Joker and is promoted to Commissioner.
That night, Dent and Rachel disappear. Batman interrogates the Joker and discovers that Dent and Rachel are held in two separate buildings filled with explosives. The Joker reveals their locations, and Batman goes to Rachel's, only to realize that the Joker has tricked him into finding Dent moments before both buildings explode, killing Rachel and scarring half of Dent's face. The Joker detonates a bomb in the police station and escapes with Lau.
Coleman Reese, an accountant at Wayne Enterprises, deduces Batman's true identity and plans to reveal it. The Joker kills Lau and The Chechen, then threatens to bomb a hospital unless Reese is killed. Gordon and Bruce protect Reese, who changes his mind. The Joker visits Dent in the hospital and convinces him to seek revenge. The Joker then blows up the hospital and escapes with hostages.
Dent starts to go after people responsible for Rachel's death, deciding their fates by flipping a coin. He kills Maroni and a cop who had helped kidnap Rachel. It is revealed that the Joker rigged two ferries with explosives to escalate chaos; one ferry is full of citizens, the other full of prison inmates and guards. He then gives the passengers of each ferry the choice to blow the other up before midnight — otherwise, both ferries will explode. The passengers ultimately refuse.
Batman asks a reluctant Lucius Fox to use a city-wide tracking prototype device to find the Joker; Fox agrees, but says he will resign immediately afterward. The Joker dresses up hostages as his men, luring Gordon's SWAT team to strike them. Batman fights off the SWAT team and the Joker's men, then rescues the hostages. Batman apprehends the Joker, but the Joker gloats that he has won, as Gotham will lose hope once Dent's rampage becomes public. Before the SWAT team arrives to take the Joker into custody, he reminds Batman that their conflict will be eternal.
Dent lures Gordon to the building where Rachel died and holds Gordon's family hostage. Batman confronts Dent, who judges the fates of himself, Batman, and Gordon's son with three coin flips. He shoots Batman, spares himself, then flips again to determine the boy's fate. Batman, who is wearing body armor, tackles Dent off the building, killing him and saving the boy.[13] Batman then convinces Gordon to frame him for Dent's murders so that Dent will remain a symbol of hope for the city. Gordon destroys the Bat-Signal and launches a manhunt for the Batman. Alfred Pennyworth burns a letter written by Rachel to Bruce announcing her engagement to Dent, and Fox watches the signal tracker self-destruct.
Shortly before Christmas 1945, drug baron Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, backed by the Corleones' rivals, the Tattaglias, asks Vito for investment in the emerging drug trade and protection through his political connections. Vito disapproves of drug dealers, so he sends his enforcer, Luca Brasi, to spy on them. The family then receives two fish wrapped in Brasi's vest, imparting that he "sleeps with the fishes". An assassination attempt by Sollozzo's men lands Vito in the hospital, so his eldest son, Sonny, takes command. Sollozzo kidnaps Hagen to pressure Sonny to accept his deal. Michael thwarts a second assassination attempt on his father at the hospital; his jaw is broken by Police Captain McCluskey, who is also Sollozzo's bodyguard. Sonny retaliates for the attacks on his father by having Tattaglia's son killed. Michael comes up with a plan to hit Sollozzo and McCluskey: on the pretext of settling the dispute, Michael accepts their offer to meet in a Bronx restaurant, retrieves a planted handgun and murders them.
Despite a clampdown from the authorities, the Five Families erupt in open warfare and the brothers fear for their safety. Michael takes refuge in Sicily, and Fredo Corleone is sheltered by associate Moe Greene in Las Vegas. Sonny attacks his brother-in-law Carlo on the street for abusing his sister Connie. When it happens again, Sonny speeds for her home but assassins ambush him at a highway toll booth and riddle him with submachine gun fire. Michael's time abroad has led to marriage to Apollonia Vitelli. Their euphoria is shattered when a car bomb intended for him takes her life.
Vito, saddened to learn that, despite his hopes, Michael has become involved in the family business, decides to end the feuds. Believing that the Tattaglias were under orders of the now dominant Don Emilio Barzini, he promises, before the heads of the Five Families, to withdraw his opposition to their heroin business and forgo revenge for Sonny's murder. His safety guaranteed, Michael returns home and over a year later marries Kay.
With his father at the end of his career and his surviving brother too weak, Michael takes the reins of the family, promising his wife to make the business legitimate within five years. With that in mind, he insists Hagen relocate to Las Vegas and relinquish his role to Vito because Tom is not a "wartime consigliere"; the older man agrees Tom should "have no part in what will happen" in the coming battles with rival families. When Michael travels to Las Vegas to buy out Greene's stake in the family's casinos, Greene derides the Corleones as a fading power. To add injury to insult, Michael sees Fredo falling under Greene's sway.
Vito collapses and dies in his garden while playing with Michael's son, Anthony. At the funeral, Salvatore Tessio arranges a meeting between Michael and Don Barzini, signalling his treachery as Vito had warned. The meeting is set for the same day as the christening of Connie's son, to whom Michael will stand as godfather. As the christening proceeds, Corleone assassins, acting on Michael's orders, murder the other New York dons and Moe Greene. Tessio is told that Michael is aware of his betrayal and taken off to his death. After Carlo is questioned by Michael on his involvement in setting up Sonny's murder and confesses he was contacted by Barzini, Peter Clemenza kills him with a wire garrote. Michael is confronted by Connie, who accuses him of having her husband killed. He denies killing Carlo when questioned by Kay, an answer she accepts. As Kay watches warily, Michael receives his capos, who address him as the new Don Corleone.
As Luke recovers, the Imperial fleet, having been alerted to the location of the Rebel base by the probe droid, launches an attack using gigantic AT-AT Walkers led by Vader. The Rebels mount a strong defense, and Luke brings down a walker single-handedly after his fighter is disabled, but the base is nonetheless captured. Han and Leia escape on the Millennium Falcon with C-3PO and Chewbacca, but their hyperspace drive malfunctions. They hide in an asteroid field, where Han and Leia grow closer. Vader turns to several notorious bounty hunters, including Boba Fett, to assist in finding the Falcon. Luke escapes with R2-D2 in his X-wing fighter and crash lands on Dagobah. He meets the diminutive Yoda, who accepts Luke as his pupil after conferring with Obi-Wan's spirit. While undergoing intensive training, Luke has a premonition of Han and Leia in pain and, against Yoda's wishes, leaves to save his friends, promising to return to complete his training.
Having escaped detection, Han sets a course for Cloud City, a floating gas mining colony in the skies of the planet Bespin run by Han's old friend, Lando Calrissian. Shortly after they arrive, though, Lando reluctantly turns them over to Vader and Boba Fett, who followed them to Bespin, to prevent the takeover of his city. Over Lando's objections, Vader uses them as bait to bring Luke into his trap. Vader intends to hold Luke in suspended animation via carbon freezing, and selects Han as a test subject for the process. Leia professes her love for Han, after which Han is frozen in a block of carbonite. Vader gives Han's hibernating form to Fett, who plans to present this "prize" to Jabba the Hutt. Lando frees Leia and the others, but they are too late to stop Fett from escaping with Han, forcing them to flee in the Millennium Falcon without him.
Meanwhile, Luke arrives at Cloud City and falls into Vader's trap. Luke and Vader engage in a lightsaber duel that leads them over the central air shaft of Cloud City. Vader cuts off Luke's right hand, disarming him, and reveals that he did not kill Luke's father, but actually is Luke's father. Horrified by this fact, Luke refuses Vader's offer to rule the galaxy at his side, choosing instead to throw himself down the air shaft. He slides through a tube system and is ejected but catches onto an antenna under the floating city. He makes a desperate telepathic plea to Leia, who senses it and persuades Lando to return for him. When its hyperdrive is finally repaired by R2-D2, the Falcon escapes at last. Aboard a Rebel medical frigate, Luke is fitted with a robotic artificial hand. Lando and Chewbacca set off in the Falcon to rescue Han as Luke, Leia, R2-D2, and C-3PO look on.
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