A woman returns home to her family having just slept with another man. At dinner, her son gets into an argument with his father about their privilege. As the narrative moves back to the time they spent abroad in Nigeria, Burma and Ecuador, fractures in the family life are revealed.

A man attempting to write a book on the Iraq war has flashbacks of violence from his time with a group of marines he accompanied as a journalist. The book centers around a man who is a stand-in for himself, who later tells his stories to an Israeli business man who is actually an intelligence agent in a bar in Frankfurt.

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.

Two American friends escape their vacation in Paris to the French countryside, enjoying a day of fresh air until a Russian waiter and an Austrian remind them of the horrors of war.

A high school boy makes a habit of stealing cars, picking up girls, and skipping school. When he begins to worry that he is getting into too much trouble, the boy must decide whether to seek help or continue his criminal lifestyle.

While conducting research in the remote country of Keteng, a Stanford grad student hears that another American has entered the country and is challenging the power structures in place.

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.

After closing a business deal for his beloved empire in New York, a young Italian imperialist seeks out his supposedly successful brother in the desert, but finds him emotionally and mentally devastated by the unforgiving American landscape.

A professor finds himself attracted to one of his students, allowing her to skip the final exams - but her resultant grade causes her to lash out at him and reveal harsh truths about his own life that he finds difficult to accept.

When a shipbreaker travels to an African island to shut down a shipyard owned by his employer, he meets an ex-Corporate America worker who pushes him to reconsider.