An institutionalized man struggling to overcome his paralyzing paranoia hates his weekly "days out" in the city. But during a particularly turbulent two weeks, the realization of his worst fears in the outside world possibly bring about an improvement in his condition.

Under the cover of secretarial work in a psychiatric unit, the protagonist records patients’ dreams in a logbook dedicated to Johnny Panic, believing themself a disciple to the omniscient master of fear and creator of all dreams. When the protagonist spends the night at the unit for unfettered access to patient records, the clinic director takes them away to a secure room for electroshock therapy.

A mother comes home from the park one day and tells her husband she was followed by a strange young boy in a green hat. The husband does not fully believe his wife because of her past bouts of paranoia, so he decides to investigate.

A man in a recovery ward is allowed to go out for a day to see his wife, but his discomfort in the outside world manifests as paranoia. He returns to the hospital early, where he finally feels normal.

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.

A quasi-reformed stalker worries about the influence of his creepy behaviors on his son.

In between worrying about the street explosions that have been wracking her wealthy New York neighborhood and grieving her late husband, a white landlord begins to suspect that her Asian second-floor tenant is building a bomb.

Mr. Beresford falls into a fit of paranoia one day on his way home from work. Mr. Beresford encounters a man in a light hat who he believes is conspiring to hurt him, and who is enlisting others on the street and even Mr. Beresford's wife to help.

An aging electrical engineer's intensifying sensation of detachment culminates in a series of debilitating headaches. As he works through fatigue, setbacks, and pain, he finally confronts the source of his desolation.

A graduate student at Columbia begins working as a research assistant to an eccentric older man, later discovering that they are looking into the life of a girl who was murdered.