Doctor Who

The Doctor, in his seventh incarnation, transports the Master's remains from Skaro to Gallifrey aboard the TARDIS. The Master had been tried and executed by the Daleks, but his fate is not sealed. During the transit, the locked box containing his remains breaks open, releasing a dangerous ooze.

The snake-like ooze leaks out and infects the TARDIS, forcing an emergency materialisation in an unfamiliar world. The Doctor continues to read, unaware of the Master’s presence as events begin to unfold.

The Doctor is forced to materialise in San Francisco's Chinatown on 30 December 1999. A gang pursues him, and he is shot as he emerges from the TARDIS, setting off a chain of dangerous consequences.

Chang Lee calls for an ambulance and escorts the unconscious Doctor to a hospital. The ooze has boarded the ambulance with them, remaining a hidden threat in the shadows.

Grace Holloway, a cardiologist, removes bullets and attempts surgery, but the Doctor's unusual double-heart anatomy confuses her. The Doctor appears to die on the operating table, and his body is taken to the morgue while the Master begins to inhabit Bruce, a paramedic.

The Doctor regenerates but awakens with amnesia and cannot recall his previous life. He recognises Grace and follows her to her car, hinting at a past bond and a chance to survive.

In Bruce's body, the Master manipulates Grace's ally Chang Lee into helping him. He persuades Lee to open the TARDIS’ Eye of Harmony, which requires a human retinal scan.

The Eye opens and the Doctor is flooded with memories, realising the Master is after him. He warns Grace that opening the Eye weakens the fabric of reality, threatening Earth's destruction at midnight unless they close it.

To close the Eye in time, the Doctor and Grace race to obtain an atomic clock from the San Francisco Institute of Technological Advancement and Research. They retrieve the clock and rush back to the TARDIS, hoping to reset the Eye before midnight.

The Doctor installs the clock and attempts to revert time to before the Eye was opened, but the Master seizes Grace’s body to drain his lifeforce. Grace fights back as best she can, buying precious seconds for the Doctor.

Grace, freed from the Master’s control, completes the final circuits to put the TARDIS into a time-holding pattern, buying the Doctor time to act. The Master kills Grace during the struggle, but her actions provide the window needed for the Doctor.

The Doctor gains the upper hand and pushes the Master into the Eye. The Eye closes and time reverts a few minutes, undoing Lee and Grace's deaths.

With the immediate danger past, the Doctor contemplates leaving San Francisco. He warns Lee not to be in the city on the next New Year’s Eve.

The Doctor offers Grace the chance to travel with him, but she declines and kisses him goodbye. She chooses her own path, ending their encounter on a bittersweet note.

The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and resumes writing his book from the start of the film as the record player begins to skip. He begins the next chapter of his adventures, undaunted by the recent dangers.