After twenty long years of destitution from being rejected by popular art sellers, an artist decides to reverse his misfortune by besting the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A young California-based sculptor has it all: a supportive girlfriend, a promising sculpture, and an optimistic vision of the future. But when problems arise and the artist is forced to adapt, he risks losing it all.

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.

Two men down on their luck form a surprising friendship and enact a get-rich-quick scheme.

Though plagued by her economic circumstances, a pregnant former circus performer finds life blooming all around her when she forms a special connection with her boarding house’s pear tree.

A poor father reminisces about the life of his deceased daughter while sitting next to her grave in the hot summer of California.

An overweight journalist navigates a strange friendship with a legendary writer and finds his life curiously entwined with one of the writer's students, a fiery young girl.

After a dangerous encounter with a predatory artist in the 1980s, a former artist-turned-housewife tries to imbue her oblivious teenage daughter with that same fear of men that leaves her cold decades later.

A struggling artist hopes to revive his social relevance by making a project out of his new neighbors, but he is forced to confront his own ruination as his obsession grows and old rivals enter the scene.

Louise, a humble "honey-colored" slave, gains a new master whose wife loves to paint. The master leaves town, and Louise must endure an uncomfortable few weeks posing naked for his wife.