An American man moves to Germany and falls in love with a married Norwegian woman in his language class. Their contrasting artistic tastes foretell a fundamental rift.

An American college student teaches English to a German Jewish refugee who is preparing to give a lecture. As World War II begins, the refugee cannot break his writers block and his tutor begins to fear the refugee may die by suicide.

An innocent introductory French course called la Muerte teaches vocabulary, by describing a typical farm until the farmer disappears.

A second-generation Russian immigrant living in contemporary Michigan finds himself caught up in a sad but emotive group of friends when he takes a continuing education course on Intermediate German.

A teacher invites her adult students — many with personal ties to the Holocaust — to attend a symposium on genocide, but the event is interrupted by incessant screams of an unknown origin.

A grieving mother and accomplished linguist relives her child's lost life as she learns to communicate with the aliens that have landed on earth.

In the 1930s, after flunking out of college, a young American man travels to Vienna where he meets a Jewish girl living on the floor below him. He returns home a few months later, but when the Nazis invade Vienna he can't help but think of the girl he once knew.

In a bridge-building reconciliation workshop between Jews and Nazi descendants, a Jewish woman and a Nazi descendant attempt to connect with each other. At the conclusion of the workshop, wounds have not been healed, but perhaps a greater understanding has been reached.

A German writer with a tumultuous family history struggles to escape his chaotic, painful past through prose. When a mysterious woman enters his life, he allows himself to hope for a fresh start—but unexpected circumstances soon put his dream in jeopardy.

A linguist is called to investigate robots that seem to have created their own language.