In 1927, an artist and warlock named Schweick works on a hellish painting in Room 36 of the Seven Doors Hotel, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He protects one of the seven gates of hell, which if opened, will bring about the end of the world and the death of mankind. He is dragged from his room by a lynch mob to the hotel basement and killed for practicising black magic. As this happens, a white-eyed woman reads from the ancient tome "Eibon", prophesizing the opening of one of the seven gates of hell.

In 1973, a squad of nine Louisiana Army National Guard soldiers convene in a local bayou for weekend maneuvers. New to the squad is Corporal Hardin, a cynical transfer from the Texas Army National Guard. He soon becomes disgusted with the arrogant behavior and attitudes of the men. A happily-married chemical engineer in his civilian life, Hardin wants no part of a date with prostitutes which PFC Spencer has arranged for himself and their squad-mates. Nevertheless, he hits it off with the amiable Spencer, and both find themselves to be the most level-headed soldiers in their squad.

In 1973, a squad of nine Louisiana Army National Guard soldiers convene in a local bayou for weekend maneuvers. New to the squad is Corporal Hardin, a cynical transfer from the Texas Army National Guard. He soon becomes disgusted with the arrogant behavior and attitudes of the men. A happily-married chemical engineer in his civilian life, Hardin wants no part of a date with prostitutes which PFC Spencer has arranged for himself and their squad-mates. Nevertheless, he hits it off with the amiable Spencer, and both find themselves to be the most level-headed soldiers in their squad.

Neurotic and delusional suburban housewife Peggy Gravel and her overweight nurse, Grizelda Brown, go on the lam after Grizelda smothers Peggy's husband Bosley to death. A cross-dressing policeman arrests the pair and gives them an ultimatum: go to jail or be exiled to Mortville, a filthy shantytown ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta and her treasonous daughter, Princess Coo-Coo.

After being humiliated by members of the Theatre Critics Guild at an awards ceremony, Shakespearean actor Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart is seen committing suicide by diving into the Thames from a great height. He survives and is rescued by a group of vagrants. Two years later, beginning on the Ides of March, Lionheart sets out to exact vengeance against the critics who failed to acclaim his genius, killing them one by one in ways very similar to murder scenes in the season of William Shakespeare's plays that he last performed. Before each murder, Lionheart recites the critic's damning review of his performance in the role.

An unknown individual breaks into the Terzi Medical Institute but supposedly takes nothing. One of the Institute doctors, Calabresi, confides to his fiancée, Bianca Merusi, that he knows who broke into the Institute and why. He attempts to blackmail the individual, but the thief pushes him in front of an arriving train, killing him. A paparazzi photographer captures Calabresi's fall, but not the killer.

John Kramer is told that, due to his advanced brain cancer, he has only months to live. After a CT scan, he witnesses a custodian stealing from a patient in the next room, and imagines a trap where the custodian fails to turn a dial to break all fingers on his right hand before having both eyes sucked out by vacuum tubes. After seeing John at the window of the patient's room, the custodian returns the stolen items.

In 1988, Henk Rogers of Bullet-Proof Software markets his newest video game at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While there, he instead becomes enamored with the game Tetris, created by Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov, who works for government-owned ELORG in the Soviet Union. Rogers explains to a bank manager that Robert Stein of Andromeda Software had obtained the worldwide licensing rights to Tetris from ELORG, and signed a contract with media tycoon Robert Maxwell and his son, CEO of Mirrorsoft, Kevin Maxwell, allowing them to distribute Tetris in exchange for game royalties. Meanwhile, the Mirrorsoft representative at CES had sold Rogers the Tetris rights in Japan for PC, console, and arcade.

Tom is the owner of a used bookstore in New York City. One day, a woman named Sandra comes in looking for a book, and after initially declining his advances, begins a romance with him. Weeks into their relationship, Sandra tells Tom that her brother is in debt and must pay $350,000 or be killed. Tom reveals that his father is wealthy, and offers to cover the debt. After he gives the money to Sandra, she disappears, pushing Tom into a nervous breakdown.

Yuichi Kimura, "The Father", boards a bullet train in Tokyo in search of the attacker of his son Wataru. Meanwhile, guided by his handler Maria Beetle, assassin "Ladybug" is assigned to retrieve a briefcase full of cash from the same train, replacing a sick colleague, Carver. Ladybug is reluctant, as his recent string of bad luck during his jobs resulted in accidental deaths. Also on the train are two British assassin brothers codenamed "Lemon" and "Tangerine", who just rescued a man ("The Son") from kidnappers and are taking him and the briefcase to his father, a Russian-born Yakuza crime lord called "The White Death".