When a woman finds her purse stolen, she retraces the steps of her eventful day only to realize that the encounters, and her life as a whole, are empty and purposeless.

Sitting at a bar, a man reminisces about his past experiences with love and develops a philosophy for 'beautiful' relationships that relies on the inevitability of their ends.

A man walks with a writer around London who tells him about the novel he wrote that was lost which can never be matched in beauty by any other.

Upon hearing news of his wife’s poor state of health after giving birth, a man quickly boards a train home and deludes himself into thinking his wife is well.

A pessimistic father's belief that the world is actively against him and his family displaces his frustration on his wife and son. His opinion may prove to be correct after his child succumbs to a sudden illness.

Stinging from his recently cut-off engagement, a young man retreats to a small town in the mountains of Virginia to work as city editor of the local newspaper. Alternately entranced and disgusted with his hermit-like nocturnal life, he finds peace and pleasure listening to the St. Anthony Chorale.

When the girl he loves leaves him after a misunderstanding, a boy is picked on by one of his neighbors and fantasizes about winning his love back by beating his foe.

As a woman grows older, she falls into a deep sadness while the men around her constantly tell her to cheer up.

A disillusioned candy store owner feels burnt out with his current life and begins to project his past mistakes on the actions of a young thieving customer.

Knowing that some things happen only once in a lifetime, a man walking down a street is convinced that he sees the girl of his dreams and wonders if fate is telling him to leave his wife.