A complex web of human relationships is presented in the form of an algebraic expression.

When a young college couple gets into a routine of studying together, the boy questions his co-dependent habits and becomes frustrated with his girlfriend's attachment to him.

Judith, a professor of marine biology, takes a sabbatical year after her childhood friend drunkenly calls her on her birthday

On a cold night in Indianapolis, a chance meeting brings two lonely divorcees together. For the night, they pretend to be a happy couple, hoping to work through the problems of their past relationships, grasping for some kind of genuine human connection.

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 a lengthy dialogue, two men, possibly a psychologist and a patient, discuss adultery, sin, desire, and life.

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 Canadian graduate student and his wife are living in France and often socialize with their peers at concerts and dinner parties. They soon make friends with an established novelist, but as the student continues to meet people he begins to question who he can trust and who his real friends are.

Having sacrificed his dream job to financially support his marriage, a man realizes there is sexual tension between his wife and his friend. Ultimately, he makes tough decisions about both his friendship and his marriage.

A professor in an unhappy marriage obsesses over and fantasizes about a much younger student, imagining how he will age.