A man thinks about his relationship with his parents (especially his mother) as he watches them grow old. He then realizes that he is now old too.

In this metafiction, the many lives of an unnamed man are scrutinized as he passes through millennia.

Set in 1914 Detroit, a young man with a life threatening condition is forced to live a mundane life protected from the outside world. When a new friend begins showing him the joys life has to offer, he is forced to decide how he wants to live.

A middle-aged Canadian writer reflects on her life, and recalls a family friend who has spent decades drifting in and out of her life, and who leaves chaos and clarity in her wake.

A gay man is rejected by his father and thrown out of his home, which forces him to rebuild his life. Years later, the man realizes that his father was indirectly responsible for his success, and that he is surrounded by many deep and loving relationships.

An aging electrical engineer's intensifying sensation of detachment culminates in a series of debilitating headaches. As he works through fatigue, setbacks, and pain, he finally confronts the source of his desolation.

A man thinks back on his life as he prepares for death and wonders if his existence was meaningful, or simply fleeting.

When an old woman sees her son straining to leave to see the world, she remembers her husband doing the same many years earlier. In a fierce battle pitting love against discovery and adventure, she does her utmost to set him free.

A man looks back on his father-in-law's life after he passes away, thinking of the many jobs he held and his military service.

A mentally-ill, suicidal man writes letters to different people about prominent memories in his life from his birth onwards—some nostalgic, some thankful, some apologetic, and some confessional.