A working-class mother has held only one hope for her entire life: that one day, her daughter would marry well and wealthy, and take care of her in her old age. When her daughter reveals that the man she loves is not wealthy, her mother's dreams of rest are dashed and divided.

After her selkie mother leaves to return to the sea, a teenage girl falls for her female co-worker. Haunted by her mother's abandonment, the girl finds it difficult to confess her feelings or fears as the two become best friends.

When a young woman in a contemporary American city witnesses her father cheating on her mother, her entire world crashes down around her.

On the day of her mother's funeral, a young woman reminisces about the summers during her childhood spent with her family and friends at their lakeside cabin. As she considers her parents' nontraditional relationship, she also wonders about her own love life.

One Mother's Day, two old women reflect on their relationships with their children--present and absent--and with the same adulterous man. When their paths cross at a crucial moment, one woman's refusal to accept the help of her husband's secret lover leads to her death.

A mother sorrowfully recounts her daughter’s first love and its destructive effects.

A young girl understands the young life and affairs of her recently passed aunt through a combination of her mother's memory, oral history, and photographs.

A Black teenage mother wants to visit her daughter's father, but she struggles to get her family to help watch the baby at home.

A Jewish mother wants her daughter to marry well and have a better life, but her husband doesn't seem to care. After her other daughter passes away, she realizes she should not hesitate to make bigger sacrifices.

A young, African-Carib girl is raised by the woman who does her father's laundry after her mother dies in childbirth. Feeling a lack of love in her life, the girl seeks to understand her relationship with her distant father and dead mother.