Workers at an American franchise restaurant located in southern China learn of the different ways American capitalism exploits them and creates food waste, leading them to rebel against their bosses.

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

A conversation in a shopping mall ends with a call to security.

To earn enough money for college, a high school graduate takes a grueling factory job. He expects his only takeaway from the work to be a paycheck, but a mysterious coworker teaches him about the world and his place in it.

In a future where the U.S. is in a state of decline and Japan is the most powerful nation on Earth, an American salesman attempts to sell American landmarks to a Japanese tycoon. An American salesman attempts to sell of his country's landmarks, from the Statue of Liberty to Yankee Stadium, to a wealthy Japanese mogul in a future where the US is broke and Japan is in charge.

A woman returns home to her family having just slept with another man. At dinner, her son gets into an argument with his father about their privilege. As the narrative moves back to the time they spent abroad in Nigeria, Burma and Ecuador, fractures in the family life are revealed.

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.

California has seceded from America, and Molly and her daughter Phoebe run a bookstore that straddles the troubled border of the two countries. When outright war breaks out, Molly and Phoebe must protect their customers - American and Californian alike - but the customers are not all willing to get along.

A young boy tries to help his parents make money by selling ice cream at his mother's work at a Snow White Laundry. An accident with one of the machines causes chaos and the narrator is forced to leave.

A man who has given everything to his friend's farm equipment business fends off onslaughts personal, emotional, and professional even as the real threat eludes him completely.