By trampling the grass as he walks the same route over and over to gather clams, an elderly man makes space for a bounty of primroses to flourish, which allows the moths and other pollinators to thrive. When he dies, the roses and moths follow suit.

When a sixty-nine-year old high school teacher's elm tree is infested with insects, the man does everything he can to save the tree, even going so low as to sabotage his neighbor.

When an old woman sees her son straining to leave to see the world, she remembers her husband doing the same many years earlier. In a fierce battle pitting love against discovery and adventure, she does her utmost to set him free.

A young boy finds a clearing while exploring the wilderness and meditatively observes the nature around him.

After hearing about his son's exciting experiences on a Boy Scouts outing in the woods, a father begins to feel jealous and detached from his work at a big law firm.

While he pens an excuse to withdraw from a community project, a biology professor reflects on other times he avoided confrontation and ruminates on unresolved dilemmas in his life.

When an anthropology professor moves with his family to a remote home on the Great Plains, a new friendship with an idealist, a landscaping disaster, and a disheartening consultation with an Indigenous man shake his beliefs about cultural relativism to the core.

An elderly widower from Atlanta works for the United States Forest Service to escape his grief. In Big Bend National Park, he meets a woman who makes him feel young and alive.

After a retired inventor becomes widowed, he decides to take Latin classes and falls for his teacher despite his grief and hesitations.

An English topographer travels to India, separating him from his pregnant wife and daughter. Over the course of the year-long expedition, he discovers a new passion and finds he wants to stay longer.