A Los Angeles speech pathologist is assigned to the case of a presumably mentally-ill woman who speaks in gibberish that turns out to be Old English. When the woman disappears, deciphering her mysterious writing leads the pathologist to wonder if she has stumbled across a time traveler.

A son tells a series of stories, most of them about his father and stepfather. As the son describes a robbery that took place at his house in high school and his experiences with his father, a former Jehovah's Witness and current alcoholic, he begins to recall details from his childhood.

While narrating a story, a woman suppresses some details while highlighting others, to expose the injustice she witnesses in her neighbor's irresponsible behavior.

While taking their partially-deaf younger cousin to a hospital appointment an unknown narrator shifts in and out of memory, mixing up sensory and real experiences.

A man reflects on the past week while an unexpected storm rages outside, and he compares the events that follow with the fall of the Roman Empire.

A young boy grows up believing that he is a detective in an imaginary city, and he quickly grows suspicious of his new neighbor. As he grows older, he ruminates on his imaginary city.

There is something suspicious about the family with a crabapple tree on their property. After a new stepmother arrives, the other members of the family start to mysteriously drop like flies.

On a long taxicab ride to Idaho, a man bonds with his driver.

An author discusses with his friend the best way to write about a poor aunt. Their words take on a new power when he manifests a literal poor aunt on his back and draws in spectators.

After struggling to appeal to their state governor, a dysfunctional family anxiously awaits the public execution of a relative. As they wait at home new of the execution, tensions and strife erupt in a dispute over the relative's innocence.