In the 1990s, a 19-year-old aspiring actor-turned-construction worker develops an affinity for crack cocaine, making him doubt the promise of his future.

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.

When a young father is hired for an English instructorship position, he struggles to balance playing the role of a teacher and meeting the university’s demands for a published scholar.

A creative writing teacher sits through a conference with one his favorite students. He takes us on a journey through the characters in the story, and in his life.

Ruthie, an experienced writer, reflects on the scholarship opportunity that set her career in motion.

Though most of a prep school's students are away for the long weekend, a few boys stay behind at the dorms and are invited to dinner with a wealthy boy and his stepmother. At the dinner, the stepmother's attitude and appearance are just as alluring as the food, but the wealthy student acts strange and detached the whole evening.

In the year 2000, Orion is a young software developer who’s hit it big with his tech company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Despite his long-term relationship, success, and newfound riches, he feels an emptiness in his life, leading him into dangerous territory.

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.

An embittered teacher takes an inner-city Black boy under her wing and discovers his immense academic and personal gifts. But even as he begins to escape the drugs that have defined his upbringing, dealing threatens to tear his loved ones away forever.

A Canadian graduate student and his wife are living in France and often socialize with their peers at concerts and dinner parties. They soon make friends with an established novelist, but as the student continues to meet people he begins to question who he can trust and who his real friends are.