A complex web of human relationships is presented in the form of an algebraic expression.

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

If two sisters are born to a family, they will be competitive for life.

An overprotective brother disapproves of his sister’s fiance despite his own inability to commit to a woman. Over time, he becomes less selfish and learns to accept others' wishes with less judgment.

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 depressed woman drives her friends and therapist crazy, going ceaselessly on about the childhood trauma she incurred during her parents’ divorce settlings.

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.

A woman considers her possible shortcomings when her boyfriend tells her that he doesn’t like some things about her. After a period of reflection, she acknowledges the futility of self-deprecation.

After falling in love with another man, an insecure woman attempts to discuss her current marriage with her husband while they drink in a bar.

A bitter divorcee and distant father having an affair with a younger, married woman gets a call that his son has gotten into trouble at boarding school. He travels to the school, where the headmaster says his son, who beat up another student, must transfer. In a series of events that makes him increasingly bitter, he ends up making his son's girlfriend cry in a restaurant.