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.

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 middle-aged New York editor becomes entranced by a young female writer whose work he rejects. As they meet more and more frequently for coffee, the editor endlessly analyzes whether or not the young woman shares his interest in becoming more than friends.

A chance encounter with an old ex-girlfriend causes a man to remember his past relationship with her and with his cousin, who immigrated from Korea to America to live with his family as a small child. Though she died in a motorcycle accident years ago, when his ex-girlfriend asks how she's doing he lies, creating the life she never had in his imagination.

A son tells a series of stories, most of them about his father and stepfather. As the son describes a robbery that took place at his house in high school and his experiences with his father, a former Jehovah's Witness and current alcoholic, he begins to recall details from his childhood.

A young writer attends a writer's workshop where she begins a relationship with an author whose books she loves. But after they move in together, she finds that his life begins to suffuse every aspect of hers.

A writer and his student are implicated in a rumor.

A writer uses his relationship with a mysterious woman as inspiration for his magical realism story. But, things go awry when he begins to question their compatibility.

A woman finally forms a relationship with her half-sister, but becomes concerned for her well-being; the half-sister and her husband each tell the woman a different story.

A writer accuses his sister's son of telepathically stealing his manuscripts; when his claim is met with disbelief, he cleverly engineers the death of his young nephew.