Young bachelors and best friends Fred Flintstone (Mark Addy) and Barney Rubble (Stephen Baldwin) have recently qualified as crane operators at Slate & Company. Soon to be employed, now they want dates, and little green alien The Great Gazoo (Alan Cumming), exiled to Earth by his species, offers to help, although only they can see him. Meanwhile, Wilma Slaghoople (Kristen Johnston) wants a normal life and activities, like bowling, despite her controlling mother Pearl (Joan Collins) who wants her to marry smooth casino-owner Chip Rockefeller (Thomas Gibson). Wilma angrily runs away to Bronto King in Bedrock. Waitress Betty O'Shale (Jane Krakowski) mistakes her as "caveless", and offers to share her apartment, and gets her a job.
Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets fired from her public relations job. As she leaves the building she drops an earring in the lift – a man retrieves it for her. She rushes for her train on the London Underground and misses it. The plot then splits into two parallel universes, the other detailing the separate path her life would have taken had she caught that train.
In a technologically advanced 1939, the zeppelin Hindenburg III arrives in New York City, mooring atop the Empire State Building. Aboard the airship is Dr. Jorge Vargas (Julian Curry), a scientist who arranges for a package containing two vials to be delivered to Dr. Walter Jennings (Trevor Baxter). Moments later, as the courier looks back while leaving with the vials, Dr. Vargas is nowhere to be seen.
In feudal Japan 1603 (Late Sengoku period) a young man is being chased by four samurai on horseback. As they go into the woods, a mysterious woman emerges from the underbrush and watches closely. However, the samurai eventually capture and take the youth, revealed to be a prince named Kenshin, with them.
An introductory text explains how the United States has gradually become strategically isolated after several European nations (except the United Kingdom) withdraw from NATO. At the same time, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact partners aggressively expand their sphere of influence. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails while a Communist coup d'etat occurs in Mexico.
The film incorporates characters and events from several of the albums, in particular the first, "Adèle and the Beast," first published in 1976, and the fourth, 1978's "Mummies on Parade," within an overall plot of Besson's construction and takes place primarily in Paris, France, circa 1912.
The film features a narrative set in an alternative reality in which there is no such thing as lying and everything said is the absolute truth. In this world people make blunt, often unintentionally cruel statements. Not being able to lie has resulted in this alternative reality having no religions. The absence of fiction results in a movie industry limited to lecture-style historical readings and advertisements as bluntly truthful as the people are.
In December 1974, the crew of the cancelled Apollo 18 mission is informed that it will now proceed as a top secret Department of Defense (DoD) mission disguised as a satellite launch. Commander Nathan Walker, Lieutenant Colonel John Grey, and Captain Ben Anderson are launched toward the Moon to place detectors to alert the United States of any impending ICBM attacks from the USSR.
A bamboo cutter named Sanuki no Miyatsuko discovers a miniature girl inside a glowing bamboo shoot. Believing her to be a divine presence, Miyatsuko and his wife decide to raise her as their own, calling her "Princess". The girl grows rapidly and conspicuously, marveling her parents and earning her the nickname "Takenoko" (Little Bamboo) from the other children in the village. Sutemaru, the oldest among Kaguya's friends, develops a particularly close relationship with her.
After miraculously recovering from a bullet wound to the head, Gulf War veteran Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) returns to Vermont in 1992, suffering from periods of amnesia. While walking, he sees a young girl, Jackie (Laura Marano), and her alcoholic mother (Kelly Lynch) in despair beside their broken-down truck. Starks and Jackie quickly form a certain affinity; she asks him to give her his dogtags and he does so. He gets the truck started for them and continues on his way. Shortly after, a man driving along the same highway gives Jack a ride and they get pulled over by a policeman. The scene changes: Starks is found lying on the deserted roadside near the dead policeman, with a slug from the policeman's gun in his body. The murder weapon is on the ground nearby. Although he testifies there was someone else at the scene, he is not believed because of his amnesia. Starks is found not guilty by reason of insanity and is incarcerated in a mental institution.
The story takes place in an alternate history in 1948–49, in an imaginary alternative Tokyo which has taken a different history and in which World War II never happened. In this fictional capital Teito, aristocrats continue to thrive as they have since the 19th century. There is a wide gap between rich and the poor with aristocrats owning 90% of the wealth. The right-wing military industrial complex have in fact developed a Tesla-style energy beam with the ability to cause Tunguska-style devastation. However, in the city there are rumors about a mysterious thief, who only steals from the rich, a part Robin Hood, part Spider-Man, part the Shadow character with magical powers, Nicknamed K-20 (short for "Kaijin Nijū-Mensō" - the Phantom Thief with 20 faces.
In 1401, Tirant lo Blanc, a famous knight, arrives with his small but battle-hardened troops of Almogavars, to the port of Constantinople. The emperor's only son has recently been killed by the Turks and the Byzantine emperor is too old to lead his army in battle. Constantinople is under treat of a Ottoman invasion and therefore it is in desperate need of a skilful military leader. Upon arrival, Tirant is received by the emperor who makes him commander in chief of the Imperial army.
In 1863, where an alternate nineteenth century Europe has made tremendous strides in steam-powered technologies, scientist Lloyd Steam and his son Edward have succeeded, after a lengthy expedition, in discovering a pure mineral water. They believe the water can be harnessed as an ultimate power source for steam engines (the main industrial engine of the time). An experiment in Russian Alaska goes terribly wrong, with Edward being engulfed in freezing gases, but results in the creation of a strange spherical apparatus.
En 1989, durant une nuit d’orage, l’adolescent Nico Lasarte (Julio Bohigas-Couto) joue de la guitare devant son caméscope avant d’être interrompu par sa mère María (Mima Riera) qui part travailler. Plus tard, seul dans la maison, il entend des cris provenant de la maison des voisins et aperçoit des ombres très agitées. Pour en avoir le cœur net, il va chez eux, rentre, remarque des talons d’aiguilles par terre dans la cuisine et, dans l’entrée, découvre le corps inerte de sa voisine, Hilda Weiss (Clara Segura). Soudain, le mari de cette dernière, Ángel Prieto (Javier Gutiérrez), descend de l’escalier avec un couteau à la main. Le garçon prend peur et s'enfuit. Poursuivi par le mari, il se fait renverser par une voiture et meurt.
In 1980, the USS Nimitz takes on a civilian observer, systems analyst Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen), on the orders of his reclusive and mysterious employer, Mr. Tideman (who helped design much of the ship), just before it departs Pearl Harbor for a training mission in the Pacific Ocean. Out in the Pacific, the ship encounters a strange storm-like vortex which disappears after the ship passes through it. Initially unsure of what has happened, and having lost radio contact with Pacific Fleet Command, Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) launches reconnaissance aircraft which discover the intact U.S. Pacific battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor.