When a northern writer arrives in a rural Tennessee town to better understand the culture for his novel, he is put through a harrowing night by the menfolk who, in the course of an elaborate joke, convince him he has inadvertently killed the son of his hosts.

In intense discussion a group leader ponders aloud, asking why hermits hide and what defines outcasts, among other cerebral queries. A group of friends discusses the oddities they have seen and perceived in their lives leather-clad hermits and criminal astronauts among them. They debate the purpose of hermitage, the classification of outcasts, and the purpose of their own reflections.

A starving man wandering the countryside finds solace in a young woman's cottage where she offers him food and rest. But when the young woman starts to behave as if the man is a threat, he must decide whether or not to live up to her fears.

In a small rural farm town, a middle-aged poet struggles with aging and finding meaning in his life.

A young teenage girl finds herself orphaned and alone, struggling to fit in with the community at her aunt and uncle's home. She manages to befriend an older girl who lives nearby, but this friendship exposes her to a dangerous old man who preys on young girls.

After a man returns to his childhood home after years of working on himself, he confidently sets out to restore it and find the vandals who ruined it. His overconfidence leads him to incorrect conclusions and he learns to accept that he was wrong.

When a boy comes to a new town after the death of a loved one, he struggles to perform daily tasks and adapt to the unfamiliar surroundings.

After a city-slicker moves to the country to build his dream home among nature, he meets a mysterious hunter who keeps his passion going. When the hunter stops visiting, the man becomes disillusioned as he waits for his newfound friend to return.

A rambunctious teenager with an inquisitive mind causes much grief for all his New England family and neighbors when he visits them in the summer of 1914, on the eve of World War I.

A man's lonely life focused on the pursuit of reason and music leaves him questioning what more there may be in the lives of other people and of religion.