A series of vignettes about various sons along a family tree.

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.

A stay-at-home dad with a wife who works in Manhattan attempts to find a sense of control by tenderly disciplining his young son after he puts himself in danger.

During a Boy Scout camping trip, a father and son find some bonding time. The father particularly finds solace in the intimacy he feels towards his son during the increased interaction.

A son tells a series of stories, most of them about his father and stepfather. As the son describes a robbery that took place at his house in high school and his experiences with his father, a former Jehovah's Witness and current alcoholic, he begins to recall details from his childhood.

A boy rides along in his father's truck, but when he breaks his father's only rule—don't touch anything—by turning on the radio, he hears another trucker threatening the safety of his father.

In an epistolary-like work, a father must choose between a job he loves and his relationship with his son.

A boy returns to New York City from summer camp and is greeted by his father. Despite being bullied at camp, it is revealed that the boy prefers life at camp to his home life.

A jobless father attempts his best to care for his family, but when he begins to take his young son to play games and music at pubs, the son develops a destructive habit.

As a boy grows to adulthood in the years encompassing WWII, and his understanding of the world changes, so too does his perception of his schoolteacher father evolve from respectable teacher to embarrassing clown to free-spirited man.