A witty high school student experiences daily name-calling, insults, and bullying by his peers. He resolves to defy everyone who undermines him by beating the high jump state record at his school's track meet.

On the Great Plains, an aging farmer and his wife struggle to sell their produce amid an increase in frozen food manufacturing. The farmer must figure out how to avoid the fate of his neighbors, who were pushed out of business and into welfare dependence.

After several months of too-quiet work at his first job in Tennessee, a young man finds himself inches from unexpected violence.

A twenty-year-old boxer endures his trainer's grueling practice techniques to perfect his skills and win money from bets at his bar fights on the weekends. Though boxing has given him a purpose and a home with his trainer's family, the young man fears for his future, especially considering the tragic failures of those before him.

After losing a fight, a professional wrestler navigates loss, guilt, and self-worth and explores his love-hate relationship with fighting.

An employee writes a heartfelt letter to his former boss to argue that he was wrongfully fired. As he lays out his life story, his hidden cowardice and stubborn ambitions paint a different story.

A manager at a railroad electrifying company reluctantly takes on a man who is being abused by his wife, allowing him to try his best at the job and earn some money. Unfortunately, the man’s hard work is soon eclipsed by his wife’s brutality.

A daughter wakes up her mother to ask how much money she made from the dog races — but instead the mother distractedly dwells on her troubling encounters with men.

A rejected author ponders his writing abilities and lonely existence as he experiences his monotonous daily life. After one of his stories is rejected yet again, he receives a mysterious letter regarding the unpublished story that offers new hope.

A group of working class people run a dangerous path toward a promised Elysium, and those who survive are rewarded with nothing they can appreciate or comprehend.