Excited for their new threshing machine, a group of farmers eagerly begins using it. However, one farmer pushes the machine too far and breaks it, leading to the others plotting to prevent him from using it.

In seventeenth-century Delft, a fanatically curious fabric merchant invents the microscope. Even as he neglects and abuses his family, he discovers a new world of life.

A band of manual laborers bet their legendarily strong digger against a salesman’s machine in a competition to prove human workers’ worth.

A young boy staying with family friends in New Orleans finds himself obsessed with their antique, lifelike doll Moriya. As his obsession grows into sexual passion, he becomes determined to uncover the secret behind Moriya's enchanting powers.

In an alternate Great Depressions NYC, a Jewish foreman investigates the true outputs of his factory as his eccentric German employer seeks to use an emerging idea called "industrivism," or the improvement of the human body through technology, created by a bored pulp writer, to recruit workers to fulfill his machinations. Without realizing, a pulp writer in an alternative 1920s New York City invents the idea of "industrivism" that earns her an audience with an eccentric German businessman. Meanwhile, a Jewish foreman investigate the true purpose of the factory and unearths his employer's dark past and future machinations.

A male at a wood chopping factory takes on a nervous new female apprentice but he becomes frustrated with her inability to be safe and efficient.

A hardworking middle-manager of the nineteenth century railroad trade helps his boss seek revenge against their old company after the two are fired. While his coworkers question his unconventional management choices, he proves himself to be a skilled leader.

A farm’s hired craftsman kills an elderly man and is forced to find a new home, lest he draw the attention of the authorities. However, his employer has grown attached to the craftsman, and the craftsman has unfinished business to attend to.

A travelling tool salesman arrives on the property of a poor farmer in rural mountain country and lies about his background and the quality of product to secure the sale. He meets a tragic end when his scheming is revealed, angering the prospect and his twin sons.

During World War II in West Bengal, a Bengali grandmother and doll-crafter faces the atrocities of British colonial rule. Upon delivering a magical doll to the Governor of Kolkata, the grandmother seeks justice for these colonial cruelties and the death of her grandson.