The tragic loss of his childhood friend puts a boy on the path of religion - but his inner feelings remain as repressed and turbulent as they always were.

After a drunk college boy falls off a balcony, a slew of characters--a groundskeeper, another student, a chaplain, and an RA--relate to his death in different ways. Their stories are sidelined for the core matter: that a boy died.

After their only child dies during his gap year abroad, a woman reflects on her relationship with her husband and comes to understand that they deal with fear and grief in different ways.

A writer reflects on his mother’s incredible strength, which he depicts in a short story. However, his mother does not approve of the piece as he had hoped, and he soon makes an important discovery.

A divorced 16 year old girl reflects on how the sexual trauma she experienced as a child perpetuates in her relationships with men throughout her life, forcing herself to grow up too early and leaving her starved for affection and love.

In 1980s Boston, a woman and her family finally collect her mother's ashes almost two years after her death. Despite her father's remarriage and her many siblings' variegated lives, they all come together for a touching tribute to their matriarch's memory.

Three months after the death of his wife, a man tries to convince himself that he has not truly suffered a loss, all the while missing his wife more than ever.

A nameless soul is stranded on an unknown shore, watching the countless soldiers of wars long past go about their nightly activities.

In rural 1950s Pennsylvania, a man processes his wife's death alongside his tight-knit family. As he gathers courage to tend his wife's grave, he must rely on his siblings more than ever before.

In limbo between life and death after falling five hundred feet into a cement mixer, a construction worker reflects on the nature of love.