In a futuristic society in which free speech is illegal without a license, a man works to get his license by having strange and touching conversations with a bizarre cast of characters.

At the root of her complicated family formed by her father and stepmother, a girl faces years of abuse through what they consider to be a “royal beating.”

A woman, living with her husband, is overcome with a strange, inexplicable ailment to her body.

A maid, silently and in thought alone, contemplates her own position in a house full of opulent, decadent lives.

Years after facing abuse from the hermit overseeing a nature preserve, two children—now adults—enact their revenge.

A daughter, on the verge of becoming a mother, learns a great deal in spending time with her own mother.