In intense discussion a group leader ponders aloud, asking why hermits hide and what defines outcasts, among other cerebral queries. A group of friends discusses the oddities they have seen and perceived in their lives leather-clad hermits and criminal astronauts among them. They debate the purpose of hermitage, the classification of outcasts, and the purpose of their own reflections.

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.

In a near-future dystopian society, a Black, teenage girl determined to stay true to herself is valedictorian of her high school class; she knows success means she will be given over to an artificial intelligence-human hybrid surrounding her walled society of the last remaining humans.

A young girl decides to run away with her best friend to a strange city only known in stories with the help of her talking dog after he loses everything in a world where success is scored to determine social status. But can they actually escape the controlling society they're running from?

After a revolution, disabled peoples have been captured and banished to a new planet. When they receive a message from Earth, the exiled peoples believe they are in great danger and must decide whether to stay in the society they have established or journey to the other side of the planet to escape.