A writer analyzes the popularity and success of Star Wars by considering its contemporary political movements and the narrative created by Americans.

A middle-aged American woman living abroad feels alone and out of place, so she seeks company from the local church and the Mothers' Union held there. However, as an atheist, the uptight nature of the church and its members leave the woman feeling unsettled.

Just before an American college student is set to leave for the airport after visiting her extended family in Ethiopia, she realizes her suitcases are too heavy. A fight breaks out between her relatives about what items should travel with her at their behest, versus which ones deserve to be left behind.

In a dystopian American Midwest, a young Arab-American woman tries to get in touch with a past lover as she journeys through the Dakotas with her dying mother who's a part of "the Movement," a philosophy based on continuous transience and the avoidance of violent places.

A young Native American man visits a burial site on a nearby island and must reflect on both his allegiance to his culture and to himself.

When a Cuban American high schooler decides to attend college out-of-state, she must confront her ambiguous feelings about her family, hometown, and identity from a distance over the next several years.

A Filipino-American woman reflects on her high school experience in the 1960s and the impact that a charismatic white boy had on her and her friends.

A college counselor watches anxiously as her teenage son applies to college without her help. As her son plans for his future, the counselor and her husband reflect on how quickly their lives have changed, seeking ways to steady themselves in the midst of middle age.

In the 1990s, after he ends ends up in a welfare hotel during a convention and is injured by a group of teenagers, an Asian American businessman thinks about his recent divorce and rethinks his current career.

An American visits an Israeli friend from his past who had recently emigrated to Maine and gotten remarried. They discuss the hostage situation in the Middle East and she reflects on where her loyalties lie.