A writer wakes up every day hoping each day would be the day he finally manages to write, though each day he finds new reasons to delay his writing.

A pessimistic father's belief that the world is actively against him and his family displaces his frustration on his wife and son. His opinion may prove to be correct after his child succumbs to a sudden illness.

A poor man stows away on a train. While riding, another man joins and claims to be carrying a large amount of money. Despite his jealously, the poor man decides to help this strange man freeload on the train.

The narrator, an adult Black man, needs to make a quick buck and decides to go into mole removal for a shady contractor. Instead of an in-and-out job, it becomes a lot more complicated when secrets and ulterior motives are revealed.

A writer dying of gangrene in the African savannah reflects on his past experiences and the stories he will never write as he converses with his wife.

A struggling writer finally completes his novel, only to have his original voice corrupted by the demands of his publisher. His supportive family cannot understand why he is unhappy with his success - but after a tragic accident leads to his death, they find solace in the remnants of his work.

A writer struggles to craft a story and begins to lose his own sanity when an idea finally comes to him.

In a town so small it can hardly be called a town, a black woman serves a rich white family until a series of horrific events causes the single joy in her life to vanish.

A young woman with a dead body in her trunk discusses with an unknown passenger whether bad luck is passed down in families.

Three boys navigate their youth in Chicago, but are forced to grow up quickly when they start cooking drugs for money.