A woman dealing with conflicting emotions resorts to deliberately putting herself in danger to learn to value the life she's been given - but these unorthodox methods leave her more desperate than ever.

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.

In a rural town, a woman attempts to run away, with her three children, from her abusive husband. While the feat seems straightforward at first, a series of complications causes their escape to become increasingly precarious.

Asked by his therapist to tell a fable, a man recounts his unenchanting life as a lawyer married to a depressed, drug-abusing woman, with a disabled son he's struggling to raise. By filling his unremarkable story with sorceresses, magic, and true love, he attempts to romanticize a life he's desperate to escape.

In this strange tale, the frustrated wife of an invalid finds herself both attracted to and tormented by a live-in handyman with a criminal past, a former flame, and a wealthy, mysterious visitor.

A young woman in an unhappy relationship with a deeply bizarre apartment manager observes his strange new tenants.

Compiling notes for an English essay, a sixteen-year-old girl recounts her middle-class upbringing, kleptomania, and eventual coercion into prostitution and assisting with drug use. After she suffers violence and abuse, she is eventually rescued — but the experience traumatizes her.

Having sacrificed his dream job to financially support his marriage, a man realizes there is sexual tension between his wife and his friend. Ultimately, he makes tough decisions about both his friendship and his marriage.

A research psychologist visits a peculiar asylum patient who recounts his life story. The patient warns the researcher about how obsession with the pursuit of knowledge can make one lose sight of their humanity until it is unsalvageable.

A woman with an aversion to yelling regrets her wish to be deaf so that she does not need to marry her fiance who is being argumentative.