A ranching family stays optimistic during tough times by remembers their good luck last summer when they persuaded a generous rancher to work on his farm.

Two people of color work for a German immigrant in Massachusetts helping him grow and maintain trees, and when he dies years after they've moved on from the work and each other, they reflect on the natural philosophies they learned from him.

In a series of commentaries on the human condition — life, truth, happiness, death — a spinster sister takes in her dead sister’s children; a man is entranced by the endless waves which roll and crash in the ocean; a carpenter wrestles with the burden of being everyone’s confidante; a dying railroad crossing watchman shares a simple but complex wisdom.

On the Great Plains, an aging farmer and his wife struggle to sell their produce amid an increase in frozen food manufacturing. The farmer must figure out how to avoid the fate of his neighbors, who were pushed out of business and into welfare dependence.

By trampling the grass as he walks the same route over and over to gather clams, an elderly man makes space for a bounty of primroses to flourish, which allows the moths and other pollinators to thrive. When he dies, the roses and moths follow suit.

A father facing mental and physical debilitations has his sights set on capturing a drop of sunlight to bring joy to everyone in his small hometown. Despite his good deed, the town finds it necessary to deliberate: is this man an alcoholic, mentally ill, or a criminal?

A middle-aged man and his wife struggle to fight the cold, care for their kids, and maintain their marriage as they build a house on a ranch in Washington state during several years filled with set backs and heartache.

After his car breaks down at the base of a steep hill, a man encounters a stranger and walks with him to the ranch at the top of the hill, both seeking to solve the mystery of why the stranger’s wife has been taking apart their ranch piece by piece.

A man who firmly believes he does not love the woman he felt obligated to marry begins to realize the gravity of losing her after she ventures into the woods one stormy evening.

A middle-aged man who runs a landscaping company is introduced to a mentally disabled boy and takes him in as an employee. As he becomes a father figure to the boy, the man confronts his past as an ex-alcoholic and grapples with the guilt of having accidentally run over his own son in a drunk episode 9 years prior.