A four-year-old black boy vaguely recalls a mixture of occurrences that puzzled him, including a sentenced hanging in his town of a man who allegedly murdered his wife.

When two sisters and their best friend befriend the new boys in their rural town, the girls' thoughts shift from make-believe to the realties of puberty.

A five-year-old girl and her mother go into hiding with some less-than-savory friends at an upstate New York cabin. While there, the girl sees the ghosts of a past tragedy and, for the first time, confronts the insecurity and inexplicability of her own life.

Two siblings are thrilled at their father’s return to their home after a long week of work and, in their fervor for playtime with him, cause his well-being to take a turn for the worse.

After a young Jewish boy moves to Berlin with his family, he learns that his family agreed to watch a boy from the mental institution on the weekends. The two become friends, and the boy learns more about himself through meeting the other boy.

A mother sends her young daughters to buy sugar, but to her great disdain, they end up playing with it.

A little girl navigates her relationships with two boys in her elementary school class, a brash bully and a shy victim, and learns about the nature of suffering.

A boy feels isolated from his group of friends and targets his rage towards the most popular of them all. When he realizes the extent of the influence this enemy wields, he is forced to come to terms with the hopelessness of his situation.

Thirteen-year-old Angelle gets into a car accident when her drunken father begs her to drive home in his stead. Later, she must take the witness stand in court and decide her family's future with her testimony.

When a prideful ten-year-old boy visits the ski slopes with his mother and brother, who has cancer, he gets himself into trouble after going off on his own and ignoring his family’s warnings.