A blissfully naïve young couple hopes to avoid the fate of the husband's unhappy parents, but as his jealous mother, children, and resentments come between them, the young couple falls into the same pitfalls.

In an attempt to impress his emotionally distant father, a boy ridicules his mother, who has loved him unconditionally even in his father's absence. Wracked with guilt, he yearns for her forgiveness - only to find that she does not hold it against him.

After subconsciously imagining getting a divorce from his wife, a man examines his marriage and tries to convince himself that he still loves his family enough to stay with them.

On a visit to his old family farm in the Great Plains, a man recalls his tumultuous relationship with his now-deceased brother. In the process, he must reckon with the continued influence of familial trauma and confront his own ambiguous role in his brother's death.

The children in a family grow tired of hosting their middle-aged cousin, but his expulsion brings unexpected strife to the family.

A brother and his sister disagree fundamentally on how to care for their dying mother. Death approaches sooner than anticipated, leaving the brother feeling lonelier than ever.

During WWII, years after his parent's divorce, a college student and his brother visit their father and his new wife. However, the visit leaves him disappointed at what his father's life has become.

Despite his wife's pleas for him to behave at the annual family reunion, a man finds himself engaging in hand-to-hand combat with his brother-in-law after a few drinks.

A supposedly peaceable day for the Werner family simmers with the annoyances and insecurities of each family member, finally boiling over in a public parental outburst. Emigrant father Werner Hartmann judges the strengths and flaws of his wife and daughters over the course of the day, finally boiling over in unwarranted anger when his daughter Annette makes a small mistake.

An overprotective mother attempts to get her teenage daughter to tell her why she is so upset. In an erratic and panicked conversation, the daughter reveals an unimaginable problem they must tackle together.