- Vicki relives the same day until she can get it right.
- Vicki is reliving the same day over and over again. She awakes at 5:55 and is hired by antiquities dealer Jakob Keller who is looking for a business associate, Benoit Fournier, who had found an expensive piece for but hasn't heard from him for a month. As Vicki chases the object down she finds Fournier dead and the antique in question to be a box with the power of life and death. As she relives the day, she's able to use the knowledge gained from her previous experiences to change the outcome.—garykmcd
- When Coreen Fennel awakens her boss, P.I. Vicki Nelson, from a short nap, Vicki relates an unsettling dream she was having of herself, a client, and her vampire assistant Henry Fitzroy in a hotel trying to recover a priceless first century Roman glass bowl that the client, an antique dealer, recently shipped to a rich antique collector named Benoit but for which her client has yet to be paid. As they walk through the lobby and head down a corridor, Henry expresses his disgust at being called out on a simple recovery case but stops when he senses multiple presences of "pain, fear, hate, and suffering." Their steps quicken as they pass room 403 and a maid who has dropped a tray of dishes on the floor. They turn into another corridor at the end of which is an open window. Suddenly, the pentagrams on Vicki's wrists begin to glow and scores of black things come flying at them, killing everyone. Vicki is so upset upon waking that she knocks over and breaks a goblet given to her by Coreen. Just as Vicki notes the time on her digital clock, 5:55, someone walks into her office. It is the client from her dream.
He introduces himself as Jacob Keller, an antiquities dealer in need of Vicki's help tracking down a client of his. Keller explains that he sent a Roman glass bowl to Benoit Fournier over a month ago and has yet to receive payment. He shipped the bowl by bonded mail courier to the billing address -- a mailbox at a photocopy shop -- not an uncommon practice in a business that often deals with rich eccentrics who wish to keep their real addresses private. Vicki agrees to take the case and begins by phoning the photoshop, pretending to be from a courier service needing the address of the registrant of box 413. The address -- 22 Corrigan -- takes Vicki, Henry, and Keller to the office of Benoit Fournier, just in time to see the TPD sealing off the office with yellow "Do not cross" tape. Inside, detectives Mike Celluci and Kate Lam are leaning over Fournier's body. It seems he's just been murdered -- stabbed in the abdomen.
While in Fournier's office, Vicki notices a handwritten note on the desk. It reads "Empire Hotel - midnight," so Vicki, Henry, and Keller head over there. As they walk through the hotel lobby, Vicki expresses a feeling of deja vu. As they head down the corridor, they pass a maid who has dropped a tray of dishes on the floor. Henry senses a negative energy that Vicki describes as "fear, hate, pain, and suffering." At the end of the corridor, they see a bearded guy carrying a black box. Henry rushes him, and the guy drops the box. The pentagrams on Vicki's wrists begin to glow as Keller approaches the box, but the bearded guy gets there first and opens it. Scores of black things fly out of the box, killing everyone. Suddenly, Vicki is back in her office with Coreen waking her from her nap. The digital clock reads 5:55, and Vicki is so upset upon waking that she knocks over and breaks a goblet given to her by Coreen. Vicki asks Coreen where Keller is, but Coreen denies knowing him.
Just then, Jacob Keller walks into Vicki's office, and Vicki rushes at him, grabbing his coat collar and asking what's really in the box. Wondering how Vicki could know him or anything about the box, Keller admits that he's looking for the box, too, because it supposedly contains mystical powers that can prolong life...or something. Henry enters the office, and the three of them -- Vicki, Henry, and Keller -- rush over to Fournier's office just in time to see him lying on the floor, blood pouring out of his abdomen. Vicki surmises that someone came looking for the box and, when Fournier didn't have it, the person murdered him. She concludes that Fournier was going to buy the box at the Empire Hotel, so they race over to the hotel hoping to intercede. As they head down the corridor, they pass a maid who has dropped a tray of dishes on the floor. Vicki points to the end of the corridor where she says the bearded man carrying the box will appear right...about...now. Appear, he does. Henry rushes him, and the guy drops the box. The pentagrams on Vicki's wrists begin to glow as Keller opens the box, releasing scores of black things that fly at them, killing everyone. Suddenly, Vicki is back in her office with Coreen waking her from her nap. The digital clock reads 5:55.
Vicki puts on her jacket, tells Coreen to detain Keller when he gets there, and calls Henry to tell him to wait for her in the car. As Vicki leaves the office, Coreen knocks over and breaks a goblet while taking some papers from Vicki's desk. Vicki and Henry race over to Fournier's office and find him still alive. They convince Fournier to come with them back to Vicki's office where Keller is trying to get past a persistent Coreen who keeps blocking his exit. While Henry holds Keller and Fournier captive, Vicki calls Mike and asks him to meet her at the Empire Hotel. As Mike and Vicki hurry down the hotel corridor, they come across the bearded guy slumped against a wall. His hands are bloodied and Vicki notices that he's wearing a ring with concentric circles on it. Mike determines that he is dead and that his name is Darryl Foreman. With Foreman dead and Keller and Fournier safely tucked away in Vicki's office, who has the box? Vicki recalls a janitor she saw outside Fournier's apartment. When he appears in the hallway carrying the box, Mike pulls a gun on him. The janitor drops the box and Mike kicks it towards Vicki. Vicki's pentagrams begin to glow and, as though in a trance, she opens the box, releasing scores of black things that fly at them, killing everyone. Suddenly, Vicki is back in her office with Coreen waking her from her nap. The digital clock reads 5:55.
Vicki leaps off the couch, moves the goblet to the other side of her desk, and draws a picture of the concentric circle pattern she saw on Foreman's ring. She orders Coreen to see what connection she can find between the circles and a box and tells her that Keller and Henry will be arriving at the office shortly. Vicki grabs her cellphone from her desk, knocking over the goblet in the process. She phones Mike and they pick up Fournier. As they are leading him out of his office, the janitor suddenly pulls a knife on Fournier and demands the box. Mike takes the janitor into custody, while Vicki phones Coreen and tells her to tell Henry to bring Keller down to the police station. Coreen informs Vicki that she's been able to identify the concentric circles as a symbol of the "Knights of Babylon," a secret society that, according to legend, was formed in the 15th century when they came into possession of Pandora's box. Legend also says that no living person can resist opening the box.
While Mike tries to get the janitor to talk, Vicki and Kate have a chance to grab a bite to eat and have a little girl-to-girl talk. Vicki has learned that Mike went out with Kate. At first it upset her because he was wearing the lucky tie that Vicki gave him, meaning that he was hoping to score, but she admits to Kate that whatever Mike does is his own business. When Henry arrives with Keller and Fournier, Vicki asks Mike to have them detained while they three -- Vicki, Henry, and Mike -- head over to the Empire Hotel. As they walk down the corridor, Foreman appears with the box in his hand. Mike pulls a gun and orders him to put down the box. Foreman obeys but fires off a shot with his own gun. Henry quickly pins Foreman up against the wall, as Mike slumps to the floor, bleeding profusely from his chest. Vicki rushes to Mike's side but, as the blood spills out on his lucky tie, Mike dies. Vicki screams at Henry to bring her the box so that she can open it and start this day over again. Henry points out that they have won, that they have the box, and that there is no guarantee it won't happen this way again, but Vicki keeps begging. Finally, Henry opens the box himself, releasing scores of black things that fly at them, killing them. Suddenly, Vicki is back in her office with Coreen waking her from her nap. The digital clock reads 5:55.
Vicki walks over to her desk, puts the goblet in a drawer, and phones Mike to assure herself that he's still alive. He is. Vicki hangs up, before she can hear Kate ask Mike whether he would like to have a drink with her to celebrate their closure of a case that's been hanging over them for 30 years. Vicki orders Coreen to take off the rest of the day, then she and Henry pick up Fournier. Vicki goes alone to the Empire Hotel. She sees Foreman on the security camera and follows him to an empty meeting room. Pretending to be placing pitchers on tables, Vicki suddenly pulls a gun on Foreman and orders him to give her the box. Foreman uncovers it just as the janitor enters the room and points a gun at Vicki. He introduces himself as one of the Knights of Babylon who has been looking for the box ever since Foreman stole it from them. He wants the box back, but Vicki refuses to let him take it. Suddenly, Henry rushes in, disarms the janitor, and grabs the box. When Henry doesn't open it, the janitor wonders how he cannot be opening the box. No living person can resist opening it. "Henry falls into an entirely different category," says Vicki.
Epilogue: Henry takes Pandora's box home with him to seal in his wall. Vicki wakes up from her nap. The digital clock reads 5:56. As Vicki visits Mike at the station to tell him how happy she is that he's okay, an earthquake knocks over the goblet, sending it crashing to the floor. [Full synopsis by BJ Kuehl]
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