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.

An older man remembers his cousin, who was quite like him despite their 20 year age difference. The cousin has died, but the man nevertheless recalls their conversations together and now feels obligated to financially support his cousin's family years down the line.

After a mysterious boat accident, a man loses his memory and is welcomed into his girlfriend's family's home, but the family devolves into conflict and chaos.

On a visit to his old family farm in the Great Plains, a man recalls his tumultuous relationship with his now-deceased brother. In the process, he must reckon with the continued influence of familial trauma and confront his own ambiguous role in his brother's death.

When a teenage boy is sent away for the summer to live with his aunt and uncle, he quickly realizes that he has feelings for his cousin. The boys must navigate their newfound attraction and their own emerging adolescence.

A middle-aged man tells his son the story of how he once killed a man while driving when he was younger, and another about how his first wife—his wife before son's mother that the son knew nothing about—suddenly passed away.

When an alcoholic-turned-family man in modern-day Cleveland has sleeping problems due to his son’s night screaming, he is haunted by his other family that he left behind a decade prior. During a nightmare about his old family, he wakes up to an even more grim reality.

In an unlikely encounter, a homeless teenage boy recounts harsh events of his life to a writer. He nonchalantly tells of an employer whose assignments caused him to have permanent physical and mental damage.

After a boy finds a dime on the ground, he buys a load of bread — only to have it stolen by his abusive uncle. The boy must decides if he wants to stand up against his uncle, or accept yet another loss.

A four-year-old black boy vaguely recalls a mixture of occurrences that puzzled him, including a sentenced hanging in his town of a man who allegedly murdered his wife.