A twelve-year-old boy tries to impress his father by working for his father's dock loading crew. However, his father is difficult to impress and can even be violent.

A child chained in a cellar abused by their enraged parents decides to take matters into their own hands.

A starving young teenager struggles to survive with her infant on their march towards a Nazi concentration camp. However, another prisoner plots to steal the teenage mom's magical shawl on which the infant relies.

An ironworker is racked with guilt after making a torture device for a man across the street.

A boy living in poverty in Louisiana needs a winter coat, but can't afford one because his father is too afraid to work.

A tired mother works to maintain her family life while dealing with her spiteful husband who just got fired from his job and is willing to go on strike to get his position back.

Once fired from her housemaid post with the MacFarland family, whose son she loved deeply, Lula Borrow falls into street-peddling, religious fanaticism, and direly ill health. Lula Borrow barely escapes her abusive husband, whose maltreatment kills one of their two children. Her sole reprieve is a housemaid post with the MacFarland family, whose son she loves deeply, and when she is fired she falls into street-peddling, religious fanaticism, and direly ill health.

A petulant young boy in Yugoslavia goes on vacation with his parents and his uncle and aunt. While there, he only stops complaining when his uncle tells unsettling stories about his childhood.

After her husband goes missing, a young mother assumes he's been deported and decides she must find work of her own.

In an unlikely encounter, a homeless teenage boy recounts harsh events of his life to a writer. He nonchalantly tells of an employer whose assignments caused him to have permanent physical and mental damage.