A man visits his girlfriend in the countryside and begins to realize that she loves someone else.

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 lovestruck journalist and a torn painter pull the threads of their affair in opposite directions: he desires something more permanent, while she feels indebted to her husband and sons.

One year out from a chaotic relationship, a woman reflects on her former lover. When she receives a surprise missive from him, it dredges up lingering feelings.

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.

A teenage girl mourns the loss of her beloved girlfriend to cancer as she begins a relationship with another girl who she realizes is no substitute.

Sitting at a bar, a man reminisces about his past experiences with love and develops a philosophy for 'beautiful' relationships that relies on the inevitability of their ends.

A young couple helplessly in love spend their last night together at a park before they begin college at different schools.

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

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.