When an old woman sees her son straining to leave to see the world, she remembers her husband doing the same many years earlier. In a fierce battle pitting love against discovery and adventure, she does her utmost to set him free.

In a series of commentaries on the human condition — life, truth, happiness, death — a spinster sister takes in her dead sister’s children; a man is entranced by the endless waves which roll and crash in the ocean; a carpenter wrestles with the burden of being everyone’s confidante; a dying railroad crossing watchman shares a simple but complex wisdom.

An American tourist on a trip to Nice, France with his sick wife visits a Mardi Gras parade of flowers where he grapples with the transience of life, happiness, and beauty.

When the California Santa Ana winds blow down from the desert and through the windows of a lonely young woman’s house, she is imbued with the inspiration to embrace an unexpected encounter.

A 17-year-old girl grapples with a mental abnormality that causes her to associate imaginative scenes with individual words. She undergoes treatment in a sterile clinic to quell her brain's urges.

After the loss of his wife and son, a young photographer retreats into isolation and sets his focus on training for a challenging mountain climb. He soon becomes consumed by vivid dreams which lead him to face the depths of his grief.

A young woman recounts three times in her life when she felt emotions of an unexplainable transcendent love: watching a ballet for the first time, making eye contact with an attractive librarian in high school, and listening to an old professor lecture during night classes at a university.

When a woman finds her purse stolen, she retraces the steps of her eventful day only to realize that the encounters, and her life as a whole, are empty and purposeless.

Two American friends escape their vacation in Paris to the French countryside, enjoying a day of fresh air until a Russian waiter and an Austrian remind them of the horrors of war.

As a woman grows older, she falls into a deep sadness while the men around her constantly tell her to cheer up.