When it is time for the Chinese gaokao, the entire country comes to a standstill. For nearly ten million high school students, this two-day national college entrance exam will determine where and if they get to study. It is not uncommon for the fates of entire families to hinge on the results. Like so many others, Nian has been focused on preparing for the exam, at the exclusion of everything else and is all alone. A classmate has committed suicide and she has become the target of relentless bullying. Meanwhile, fate brings her together with small-time criminal Bei and the two of them seal a pact.

Newly divorced Sarah and her daughter Elissa find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret.

This is the story of a brave woman who volunteered to join S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) during World War II. She was flown into occupied France where she fought with the French resistance. Captured and tortured by the Gestapo, she refused to identify her accomplices.

Divorced working woman Alex and well-to-do Jewish family doctor Daniel Hirsh share not only the same answering service but also the favours of young Bob Elkin who bed-hops between them as the mood takes him. Both Alex and Dr Hirsh are aware of the other's existence but prefer to live with the situation rather than risk losing Elkin completely. But a wet winter weekend in London can be difficult.

Following his mother's death, Mark is sent to Maine to visit his aunt and uncle while his father goes on a business trip to Tokyo. Mark meets his cousin, Henry, and the two quickly form a friendship. However, Henry begins to show signs of violent behavior that worry Mark.

In the cold, dark waters off North Korea a U.S. Navy fast attack submarine meets with a mysterious disaster - it's attacked and nearly sunk by an ominous stealth submarine resulting in the deaths of the Executive Officer and the Engineering Officer. The sub's captain, Commander Burt Habley, faces a court-martial by a Naval Board of Inquiry. He's rescued from this fate when he's chosen to lead a top secret mission back to tap a North Korean underwater communications cable. Habley must protect his boat and crew from this phantom submarine while completing a successful mission. His instincts tell him they're being followed and he begins to navigate the sub away from the original mission and into open waters drawing the phantom sub away from the U.S. fleet. This puts him at odds with his new by-the-book Executive Officer who eventually, with the help of the special missions team, takes command of the submarine and navigates back on course just as they are attacked again. Validated, Habley...