Just before an American college student is set to leave for the airport after visiting her extended family in Ethiopia, she realizes her suitcases are too heavy. A fight breaks out between her relatives about what items should travel with her at their behest, versus which ones deserve to be left behind.

A woman who is not content with life and fears staying in one place works as a traveling writer, recording her thoughts and interactions on tape recorders and finding different lovers in each place she visits.

While conducting research in the remote country of Keteng, a Stanford grad student hears that another American has entered the country and is challenging the power structures in place.

A woman returns home to her family having just slept with another man. At dinner, her son gets into an argument with his father about their privilege. As the narrative moves back to the time they spent abroad in Nigeria, Burma and Ecuador, fractures in the family life are revealed.

An American vacationer in Italy slowly convinces a fellow American of the benefits of rejuvenation, chipping away at the man’s engrained business mindset until his wife objects.

A chance encounter with an old ex-girlfriend causes a man to remember his past relationship with her and with his cousin, who immigrated from Korea to America to live with his family as a small child. Though she died in a motorcycle accident years ago, when his ex-girlfriend asks how she's doing he lies, creating the life she never had in his imagination.

A landlady says a tearful farewell to one of her Mexican tenants, who must leave due to an expired visa.

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.

An American expat who lives in Rome struggles to understand his adopted country, especially the Italian language. When he finally finds the right teacher, he is overjoyed, but her unique personal life quickly pervades their lessons and confounds their rapport.

A group of friends realize they have been living vicariously through one of their friend's travel stories for their entire lives.