Vignettes of a number of relationships, most of them troubled, are glimpsed through the descriptions of creatures in this bestiary of the imaginary.

As she walks alongside the Hudson River with her friend, a woman excitedly explains her intricate vision of what would give her happiness.

In a world where there is no smell, taste, pain, death, or digestion, the people are left hungering for one thing: love.

Following a messy breakup, an MIT graduate and a PhD student at Indiana University separately talk about the problems in their former relationship in two spliced-together conversations, exploring conflicts surrounding language, intimacy, commitment, and intellectualism.

A man tries to determine the cost of a passionate but brief love affair, and his calculations lead him to a solemn but hopeful realization.

When a depressed middle aged man strikes up a romance with his neighbor in a modern suburban American town, he consults women's magazines to make himself into the perfect lover.

A man visits a woman he once had an affair with twenty years ago, in the hopes that he might rekindle their relationship. The woman asks her friends to join them for dinner, as they must help her judge the man's intentions.

With elaborate descriptions of the body, a husband muses about his relationship with his delicate wife. Reflecting on their good and bad days, the husband oscillates between worrying about their future and feeling passionate love.

A man meets his girlfriend’s mother. While at first she is cold to him, because of a secret his girlfriend won’t speak of, they grow close, begin to depend on each other.

When a friend's wedding forces her to reunite with both a past flame and her former abuser, a young woman must confront some old wounds.