After a drunk college boy falls off a balcony, a slew of characters--a groundskeeper, another student, a chaplain, and an RA--relate to his death in different ways. Their stories are sidelined for the core matter: that a boy died.

A woman comes home dreading her grandmother's funeral, but she finds that moments of shared sorrow allow families to come together and celebrate life.

A teenager learns how to cope with the premature loss of his father. Through a newly developed relationship with his uncle, he discovers a new version of his father he wasn't privy to during his life.

Three months after the death of his wife, a man tries to convince himself that he has not truly suffered a loss, all the while missing his wife more than ever.

When a young girl in a contemporary northwestern American town dies, one of her neighbors and former friends rethinks her relationship with death.

A writer reflects on his mother’s incredible strength, which he depicts in a short story. However, his mother does not approve of the piece as he had hoped, and he soon makes an important discovery.

Determined his death is approaching, a man pays a last visit to both his wife's grave and his son's ghost and tries to say goodbye.

After two of a man's acquaintances die by suicide, he goes on a hunting trip and can't stop thinking about why they wanted to die.

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.

A little girl sits down by her dying grandmother’s bedside to receive an important warning about how she should live her life with the knowledge that death will come to her, too.