In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his true calling: writing a historic opus. As the decades roll by with the composition unwritten but generations of students inspired through his teaching, Holland must redefine his life's purpose.

An Army cameraman is embedded with a reconnaissance patrol and charts their mission across territory controlled by the North Vietnamese.

Convicted killer Laurence Dvorak grants an exclusive last interview to TV newswoman Alana Powers shortly before his scheduled execution. Urbane and unrepentant, he seems almost mild at first. But Dvorak's real intention is revealed when he takes Powers, her crew and two guards hostage, and demands that the television network broadcast an execution - live.