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 this metafiction, the many lives of an unnamed man are scrutinized as he passes through millennia.

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 few men gather in a small house to discuss what makes humanity unique as compared to the rest of nature.

A story with an unconventional structure that asks "What is your number one priority?"

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.

After being laid off from his job, a man struggles to find meaning in a utopian world where all of his basic needs are already met for him.

Following a messy breakup, an MIT graduate and a PhD student at Indiana University separately talk about the problems in their former relationship in two spliced-together conversations, exploring conflicts surrounding language, intimacy, commitment, and intellectualism.

A man thinks about his relationship with his parents (especially his mother) as he watches them grow old. He then realizes that he is now old too.