Marisol Nichols

Two teenagers on the cusp of adulthood meet and fall in love over four significant days of the year. A modern take on Before Sunrise and Say Anything, this is a whip-smart coming of age tale that will appeal to audiences of all ages.

The family man Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) is living the American Dream with his girlfriend Laura (Marisol Nichols) and their son Michael: they have a nice house; he has just raised a loan to make his company grow and they are going to get married. However, their dream becomes a nightmare when Wade unintentionally kills a burglar that had broken into their house in the middle of the night on his lawn. Wade chased the burglar out of the house and hits him in the head with a baseball bat, unintentionally killing him on his lawn. For attacking an unarmed intruder after he exited the house, he is arrested and charged with murder. Wade is put on trial and accepts a deal proposed by the prosecutor. At the urging of his public defender, he enters a plea of no contest in exchange for a reduced sentence of three years for involuntary manslaughter. During the transportation, there is an incident in the bus. During the bus ride to prison Danny Sampson (Chris Browning), leader of the local Aryan Brotherhood, stabs a man and hides the knife with young Aryan member Snowman (Johnny Lewis) who is sitting behind Wade. In a moment's panic, Snowman hides the knife under Wade's seat and forces him to deny knowledge of it. As a result, Wade is sent to solitary confinement until the stabbing can be investigated. Lieutenant Jackson interrogates him about the stabbing, but he doesn't cooperate with the investigation. Jackson (Harold Perrineau) decides to send Wade to the Security Housing Unit (SHU) in Corcoran State Prison where he is the commanding officer. Jackson overrides the advice of this top security person & puts Wade in with the common hardened criminals who are residents at his facility. Jackson refuses to show any leniency for Wade's crime free past. In the middle of the gloom and the daily carefully monitored & humiliating existence, John Smith (Val Kilmer) walks into the prison & is assigned as cell mate to Wade. John is sympathetic to Wade & takes him under his wings. John Smith is serving a life sentence after avenging the death of his family. Inmates here are under 23-hour lock-down and not permitted to have visitors for the first three months. Wade discovers the daily hour of yard time consists of inmate fights, on which the officers bet. Jackson watches the developing friendship between Wade & John. John saves Wade from the Nazi skinhead gang in prison when they turn on Wade when Wade refuses to fight the Hispanics as the Nazi's crony. The Nazi skinhead gang lead promises revenge to John. In addition to the prison violence, Wade's regular visits with Laura start to take their toll on their relationship. Michael has nightmares after visiting, and the family's finances are running low. Jackson resorts to heavy violence to control the gang wars within prison. His officers James (Nate Parker) & Cormack are not supportive of this & want to do things by the book. But Jackson always manages to convince them to his point of view with an evil streak in his eyes. Jackson arranges cockfights between Wade and the Hispanics & bets on them with his colleagues. Wade refuses to fight. Jackson threatens Wade to implicate him in the murder of the inmate on the prison transport bus & extend his stay in the prison when Wade had only 4 months to go on his term. After Wade refuses to identify Sampson as the perpetrator of the murder on the bus, Jackson falsely testifies that he was an accessory to the murder, resulting in an additional three years being added to his existing sentence. Wade is sentenced to 6 years in prison on this second conviction that was implanted by Jackson & was based purely on his testimony on Wade's violent conduct in prison. After the second conviction, Wade's wife who was under a lot of stress due to financial problems, leaves Wade. Broken and enraged, he resorts to fighting the prisoners in exchange for protection from Sampson and the Aryan Brotherhood. But later on, his wife comes back to Wade & wants to make up. Wade decides that what Jackson did was wrong & wants to expose him so that he can get his life back. Wade agrees to participate in Jackson's cock fights, but then simultaneously asks his wife to contact one of John's relatives who knows a high official in the DA's office. Upon hearing Wade's wife's allegations about prison cockfights, the DA agrees to visit the prison the same day Wade has alleged a cockfight will take place. In the fight, Wade defeats his opponent, but refuses to kill him. Jackson threatens Wade with his life, but the entire prison stands behind Wade & Jackson has to back down. Jackson clears the yard out, where the fights take place, except for John & Wade & shuts the surveillance video. He enters the yard, has Wade & John covered with a sharpshooter & attacks them with a carving knife. James, already angry, does not agree with this behavior & turns on the surveillance video. As Jackson attacks, John pulls out a knife from his spectacles & stabs Jackson in the neck, killing him. The sharpshooter takes John out. The DA reaches the prison just then & seizes the video tapes documenting the entire sequence & essentially clearing up Wade's name in the process. Wade is released upon completion of his original term. He is released after 15 months in prison and reunited with his family.

Following the approval of the food preservative he helped create that keeps perishable goods fresh for years, Clark Griswold receives the bonus that Frank Shirley promised him in the last movie. He tells his family that he and his wife Ellen are going on vacation to celebrate and reaffirm their vows. Clark's announcement that they are going to Las Vegas, however, dampens the excitement. Las Vegas is not known for being a family-friendly place, so Ellen and her teenage daughter Audrey are hesitant, but their teenage son Rusty seems more excited. When the Griswolds first arrive in Vegas, they visit Cousin Eddie, the husband of Ellen's cousin Catherine, and go to a Siegfried & Roy show. Eddie now resides with his family on a former hydrogen bomb test site in the desert north of Las Vegas. Clark is separated from the group during a guided tour of the Hoover Dam by Arty after he unintentionally causes a leak in the interior walkways and must scale the scaffolding to the top of the dam in order to escape. The following evening, they discover to their surprise that a dress for Ellen and tickets to a Wayne Newton concert have been delivered to their hotel room. They discover that Newton sent the dress when they arrive at the concert. As he sings, he visits their table and invites Ellen to join him on stage. The following day, the family consents to a "alone day" and is left on their own. Following his visit to a casino, Clark develops a gambling addiction. Rusty becomes a successful high roller after purchasing a phony ID from a Frank Sinatra impersonator. Vicki, Eddie's free-spirited exotic dancer daughter, and her friends begin to hang out with Audrey. Wayne Newton, who is attracted to Ellen, spends time with her. When Clark gambles away the family's $22,600 bank account, Ellen becomes enraged and the children leave him. Audrey and Vicki visit a strip club and Audrey secures a job as a go-go dancer, while Rusty wins four cars from four different slot machines. Since the Griswolds have helped Clark and his family so much, Eddie, who has money buried in his front yard, tries to help him. When Clark and Eddie visit a casino to retrieve their money, Clark also gambles away Eddie's money. Afterwards, he understands that he must get his family back and no longer cares about getting his money back. Clark brings his family together from the Vegas area, and they play keno to spend their final two dollars. They are seated next to an elderly man who tells Clark how happy he is with his family and suggests that he has always been lonely. In a show of compassion, Clark advises the man to spend the night with the Griswold family. The game starts after the man gladly accepts Clark's offer. Initially hopeful, the Griswolds sit in silence as they come to terms with their defeat. The man next to them abruptly announces that he has won the game. While Ellen sends Rusty for assistance, he drifts in and out of consciousness in his emotional outburst. He survives long enough to speak to Clark in a whisper. According to Clark, who is perplexed, the man said, "Take the ticket." The man is declared dead by the paramedics and casino security officers upon their arrival. Mr. Ellis was his name, and they tell the Griswolds that he would have done anything for a friend. In front of Eddie's relatives, Clark and Ellen exchange vows of marriage after winning a lot of money. In return for his generosity, Clark then gives Eddie $5,000. Rusty won four cars from the slot machines: a white Ford Aspire, a black Hummer H1, a maroon Ford Mustang, and a red Dodge Viper. The Griswolds drive home in these vehicles.