A research psychologist visits a peculiar asylum patient who recounts his life story. The patient warns the researcher about how obsession with the pursuit of knowledge can make one lose sight of their humanity until it is unsalvageable.

In an unlikely encounter, a homeless teenage boy recounts harsh events of his life to a writer. He nonchalantly tells of an employer whose assignments caused him to have permanent physical and mental damage.

A young teen in Southern California, after several months of living on the streets, tries to rebuild her life. She suddenly disappears after six months of sobriety, leaving her family to yet again wonder if she has relapsed and returned to live on the streets again.

A mother reflects on her past struggles with addiction.

After a bout of cardiac insufficiency, a middle-aged, successful lawyer chafes against the restrictive conditions of his recovery and begins to rely on his young son for reassurance.

Having been hospitalized for a long time, a young girl finds herself surrounded by people who cannot understand the strangeness of her illness. After her friend visits her, she must accept that her relationships may never be the same, and that her expectations that tether her to a life outside of the hospital may be very different from the disappointing reality.

A counselor breaks his sobriety streak after several meetings with a frustrating client. After arguing with his wife while drunk, the counselor begins to feel murderous and must fight his violent urges to earn back her trust.

A woman addicted to narcotics works as a waitress and fixes up her apartment in hopes of getting back her son from foster care after throwing him against a wall.

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.

As he naviagtes his own sobriety, a man finds out that his best friend of twenty years has two months to live due to HIV/AIDS. With help from the dying friend's lover, the man helps prepare his friend for a final bronchoscopy.