In January 1865, President Abraham Lincoln expects the Civil War to end within a month. However, he is concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation may be discarded by the courts once the war has concluded and that the Thirteenth Amendment be defeated by the returning slave states. Lincoln feels it is imperative to pass the amendment by the end of the month, thus removing any possibility that slaves who have already been freed may be re-enslaved. The Radical Republicans fear the amendment will be defeated by some who merely wish to delay its passage; the support of the amendment by Republicans in the border states is not yet assured either, since they prioritize the issue of ending the war. Even if all of them are ultimately brought on board, the amendment will still require the support of several Democratic congressmen if it is to pass. With dozens of Democrats having just become lame ducks after losing their re-election campaigns in the fall of 1864, some of Lincoln's advisors believe that he should wait until the new Republican-heavy Congress is seated, presumably giving the amendment an easier road to passage. Lincoln, however, remains adamant about having the amendment in place and the issue of slavery settled before the war is concluded and the southern states readmitted into the Union.
In 1968, Frank Lucas, the limo driver-turned-right-hand man of Harlem gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, inherits Johnson's gang when Johnson dies of a heart attack. Disliking the new, flashy gangsters of the neighborhood, Lucas decides to take control of Harlem's crime scene.
In 1993, Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is an unemployed single mother of three children, who has recently been injured in a traffic accident with a doctor and is suing him. Her lawyer, Ed Masry (Albert Finney), expects to win, but Erin's explosive courtroom behavior under cross-examination loses her the case, and Ed will not return her phone calls afterwards. One day he arrives at work to find her in the office, apparently working. She says that he told her things would work out and they didn't, and that she needed a job. He feels bad for her, and decides to give her a try at the office.
In Fall 1995 in Detroit, Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. (Eminem), a young and unhappy blue-collar worker from a poor family, struggles with various aspects of his life. He has moved back north of 8 Mile Road to the rundown trailer home in Warren, Michigan of his alcoholic mother Stephanie (Kim Basinger), his little sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield), and Stephanie's abusive live-in boyfriend Greg (Michael Shannon). Although encouraged by his friends, who hail him as a talented rap music artist, Jimmy worries about his potential as a musician, particularly due to his lack of confidence. This caused him to panic during a rap battle one night at a club called The Shelter, and leave the stage humiliated.
Dans les années 1920, les parents de Katherine Coleman apprennent que leur fille possède un don pour les sciences, qu'elle doit parfaire en fréquentant une école pour Noirs (les Blancs étant dans des écoles séparées) car elle est dotée d'aptitudes intellectuelles supérieures. En 1962, devenue mathématicienne, Katherine Coleman (désormais Goble) travaille au sein d'un groupe de calculatrices humaines, sur le campus ouest du Centre de recherche Langley à Hampton, en Virginie, aux États-Unis, avec deux amies et collègues : l'aspirante ingénieure Mary Jackson et la superviseure d'équipe Dorothy Vaughan. À la suite du lancement réussi de Spoutnik 1, Al Harrison, directeur du Space Task Group, exige encore plus d'efforts de la part des employés sous sa supervision, de crainte que les Soviétiques ne mettent en orbite une bombe H pouvant exploser au-dessus du sol américain. Goble est envoyée dans son groupe pour vérifier les calculs, devenant la première Afro-Américaine à participer à ce groupe de recherche. Au début, elle est ignorée de ses collègues blancs et doit travailler à partir de données partiellement masquées (Goble n'ayant pas le niveau d'habilitation nécessaire) sous les ordres de Paul Stafford, un homme croyant en sa supériorité intellectuelle et refusant de reconnaître le travail de Katherine.
In 1951, two policemen, Nock and Staehl, investigate mathematician Alan Turing after an apparent break-in at his home. Turing's suspicious behaviour and lack of war records triggers Nock's suspicion that he might be a Soviet spy. During his interrogation by Nock, Turing tells of his time working at Bletchley Park.
The story begins in 1913 in Denmark, when Karen Dinesen (a wealthy but unmarried woman) asks her friend Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) to enter into a marriage of convenience with her. Although Bror is a member of the aristocracy, he is no longer financially secure; therefore, he agrees to the marriage, and the two of them plan to move to Africa to begin a dairy farm.
Au début des années 1960, la Ford Motor Company connait des problèmes financiers. Henry Ford II met alors la pression à ses employés pour trouver des solutions. Lee Iacocca suggère alors de relancer la marque dans l'univers de la compétition automobile. Il est alors envisagé que Ford rachète Ferrari. Mais la rencontre avec Enzo Ferrari tourne au fiasco et c'est finalement Fiat qui signe l'accord. Le « Commendatore » est même très insultant envers la marque américaine et son patron, Henry Ford II. Ce dernier, piqué au vif, en fait une affaire personnelle. Ford décide alors de faire appel à Carroll Shelby, le seul américain vainqueur des 24 Heures du Mans (en 1959). Il est chargé de construire une voiture capable d'anéantir la suprématie de Ferrari pour les 24 Heures du Mans 1966. Carroll Shelby va ainsi développer la Ford GT40 Mk II avec l'aide de Ken Miles, un pilote au caractère bien trempé qui ne plait pas trop au sein de Ford.
In late 2003, 19-year-old Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg is dumped by his girlfriend Erica Albright. Returning to his dorm, Zuckerberg writes an insulting entry about Albright on his LiveJournal blog and then creates a campus website called Facemash by hacking into college databases to steal photos of female students, then allowing site visitors to rate their attractiveness. After traffic to the site crashes parts of Harvard's computer network, Zuckerberg is given six months of academic probation. However, Facemash's popularity attracts the attention of Harvard upperclassmen and twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their business partner Divya Narendra. The trio invites Zuckerberg to work on Harvard Connection, a social network for Harvard students aimed at dating.
Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) takes command of the MV Maersk Alabama, an unarmed container ship from the Port of Salalah in Oman, with orders to sail through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, Kenya. Wary of pirate activity off the coast of the Horn of Africa, he and First Officer Shane Murphy (Michael Chernus) order strict security precautions on the vessel and carry out practice drills. During a drill, the vessel is chased by Somali pirates in two skiffs, and Phillips calls for help. Knowing that the pirates are listening to radio traffic, he pretends to call a warship, requesting immediate air support. One skiff turns around in response, and the other – manned by four heavily armed pirates led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi) – loses engine power trying to steer through the Maersk Alabama 's wake.
After killing Charles Floyd (Channing Tatum), FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover (Crudup) to lead the hunt for bank robber John Dillinger (Depp). Purvis shares Hoover's belief in using scientific methods to battle crime, ranging from cataloging fingerprints to tapping telephone lines.
In Houston, 1913, nine-year-old Howard Hughes is warned by his mother of the diseases to which she is afraid he will succumb. Fourteen years later, he begins to direct the movie Hell’s Angels. However, after the release of The Jazz Singer, the first partially talking film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting his film realistically, and decides to convert the movie to a sound film. Despite the film being a hit, Hughes remains unsatisfied with the end result and orders the film to be re-cut after its Hollywood premiere. He becomes romantically involved with actress Katharine Hepburn, who helps to ease the symptoms of his worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
In 1280, King Edward "Longshanks" (Patrick McGoohan) invades and conquers Scotland following the death of Alexander III of Scotland, who left no heir to the throne. Young William Wallace (James Robinson) witnesses Longshanks' treachery, survives the deaths of his father (Sean Lawlor) and brother (Sandy Nelson), and is taken abroad on a pilgrimage throughout Europe by his paternal Uncle Argyle (Brian Cox), where he is educated. Years later, Longshanks grants his noblemen land and privileges in Scotland, including Prima Nocte (or droit du seigneur, the right of the lord to have sex with female subjects on their wedding nights). Meanwhile, Wallace (Mel Gibson) returns to Scotland and is reunited with his childhood friend, Hamish Campbell (Brendan Gleeson). Wallace falls in love with his other childhood friend, Murron MacClannough (Catherine McCormack); they marry in secret so she will not have to spend the night with the local English lord. Wallace rescues Murron from being raped by English soldiers, but as she fights off their second attempt, Murron is captured and publicly executed. In retribution, Wallace leads his clan to slaughter the English garrison in his hometown and send the occupying garrison at Lanark back to England.
A suicidal Hunter "Patch" Adams (Robin Williams) commits himself into a mental institution. Once there, he finds that using humor to help his fellow patients gives him a purpose in life. Because of this he wants to become a medical doctor and two years later enrolls at the Medical College of Virginia (now known as VCU School of Medicine) as the oldest first year student. He questions the school's soulless approach to medical care and clashes with the school's Dean Walcott (Bob Gunton), who believes that doctors must treat patients as patients and not bond with them as people. Because of this and incidents such as setting up a giant pair of legs during an obstetric conference, he is expelled from the medical school, although he is later reinstated due to his methods actually helping patients improve. Adams encourages medical students to work closely with nurses, learn interviewing skills early, and argues that death should be treated with dignity and sometimes even humor.