Plot: U.S. President James Dale (Jack Nicholson) and his right-hand man, Press Secretary Jerry Ross (Martin Short) discover that an army of Martian U.F.O.s are hovering around the Earth, and everyone has a different response. Some, like Texan alcohol dealer Art Land (Jack Nicholson) and slimy newsman Jason Stone (Michael J. Fox), just want to make a profit out of it. Others, such as television hostess Nathalie Lake (Sarah Jessica Parker), Land's spiritualist wife Barbara (Annette Bening), and the Southern-like Norris family, are excited, and some, like Dale's wife, Marsha (Glenn Close), and daughter, Taffy (Natalie Portman), don't care. Richie Norris (Lukas Haas) is extremely intelligent, but is only respected by his insane grandmother (Sylvia Sidney), while his older brother Billy (Jack Black) is favored for joining the Army. General Decker (Rod Steiger) doesn't trust the Martians and insist they fight, but General Casey (Paul Winfield) is more optimistic. The Martians appear to come in peace but suddenly begin to use their super-powerful and technologically advanced weapons to wipe out the population and great structures. Soon, they attack Las Vegas, where the Norrises are living, where former heavyweight champion Byron Williams (Jim Brown) is visiting, where an obnoxious lawyer is gambling, and where Sir Tom Jones is performing in concerts.
Alternative Plot: A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale (Jack Nicholson) receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler (Pierce Brosnan) that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.
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