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.

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 mother in Greece is grieving the death of one of her sons, which sends her to request more children from the city council. Granting her three sons to care for, she sets about transforming them from boys to men, employing incest at times.

A mother, upon helping a girl at a playground one day, contemplates the nature of her marriage and the daughter who came from it.

A woman's complicated relationship to her mother is captured in three vignettes: one from directly after her death, one from when she is still alive, and one from years after she is gone.

Amongst problems with her ungrateful children and ex-husband, a middle-aged mother deals with a burgeoning mid-life crisis — until she realizes that she has become miraculously pregnant.

A middle-aged American woman living abroad feels alone and out of place, so she seeks company from the local church and the Mothers' Union held there. However, as an atheist, the uptight nature of the church and its members leave the woman feeling unsettled.

A somewhat estranged family grapples with the impending death of their mother.

Seasonal changes and religious renewal spark melancholy in a teenage girl as she realizes the realities of womanhood by observing her mother.

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.