In Michigan, a recently divorced professor reflects on what it means to exist, first alone in his empty apartment and then alongside his student in a mission to find a missing girl.

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.

A human undergoes a procedure to transplant her consciousness into a spaceship, though her actions are held under strict protocol. After she befriends a vulnerable child stowaway onboard, she decides to take back control of the ship.

A man's lonely life focused on the pursuit of reason and music leaves him questioning what more there may be in the lives of other people and of religion.

A female professor at a contemporary university remembers an old conversation with a former teacher of hers, which prompts her to reconsider her job, solitude, and love of reading.

A teacher reminisces about all his wonderful students of the Narrative Studies courses he has taught around the world before his career comes to an end.

A young, Black woman clings desperately to a friendship and a relationship which both ended long ago. Through clashes with a "godmother" who appears as an apparition in her apartment, the woman finally resolves to move on.

Over dinner, an observer reflects on mothers and their omnipresent prevalence in children’s lives.

A young man who has wasted his life finds himself sucked into a non-human world — a gray, ghostly landscape to which those who don't make use of their time are drawn, potentially forever.

Consumed by the memory of his larger-than-life roommate who recently passed away from AIDS, a grieving man working at an art gallery reflects on life.