Guided by his late grandfather's wisdom, a young man in 1970s America must continuously attempt to stand up against a colleague's violence and console the man's distressed girlfriend, even when she is tragically hospitalized.

A boy's great-grandfather loves to tell stories; he recounts his days as a pioneer when he went out West and searched for gold.

A young Native American man talks about his encounter with a white man who was captured by his tribe. The white man and the Native American man grow closer through mutual teaching.

After hearing about his son's exciting experiences on a Boy Scouts outing in the woods, a father begins to feel jealous and detached from his work at a big law firm.

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.

Margaret and Grandfather Nanapush, two Chippewa elders, are captured and shamed by younger reservation inhabitants for their refusal to sign a controversial treaty. Nanapush and Margaret’s stepdaughter Fleur enact revenge through snares and old magic, respectively.

A Navajo man tells the story of how he fell in love with an American woman and followed her to the northern mountains, consequently meeting her disapproving husband and breaching the boundary between American and Native American culture.

After one of her father's notebooks is recovered from an icecap, a woman recalls the love story between her mother, a rural woman who always wanted adventure, and her father, an adventurous explorer who disappeared on a voyage to the Arctic.

In a poignant reflection on the legacies of the past, a man finally hears from his grandmother the full account of his great-grandfather’s death at the hands of a close friend.

A young Native American man visits a burial site on a nearby island and must reflect on both his allegiance to his culture and to himself.