After having an affair with a married man, a woman divorces her old husband and remarries, but she struggles to keep up with the compounded responsibilities of mother- and step-motherhood.

Following the death of her mother, a daughter recalls her mother gossiping about a small family in the Ottowa valley where a man shamelessly robs two sisters of their inheritance through marriage.

A female novelist asks her friend for help with her story about a woman who has a reputation for her husbands dying during marriage. The friend offers a story idea that seems oddly similar to the author's life.

A woman in Ireland finally gets to be with her long-lost love, but only after he is tragically made a widower when his previous wife passes from an illness, leading the new wife to compare herself to the perfect, kind, dead one.

A working-class mother has held only one hope for her entire life: that one day, her daughter would marry well and wealthy, and take care of her in her old age. When her daughter reveals that the man she loves is not wealthy, her mother's dreams of rest are dashed and divided.

A wife leaves her husband in order to ensure his ultimate salvation after they are rejected from the Christian church for their polygamist marriage.

An elderly woman prepares for her death, but is anxious for someone to listen to her precious memories and cherish them after her death.

When loving each other becomes inconvenient, a man separates from his wife of 20 years and struggles to realize that the end of marriage must also bring an end to the life they were supposed to live together.

After his wife's death, a man strikes up a romance with a new woman — as well as an unexpected friendship with the woman's ex-husband.

A married couple has decided to separate, but first they must go through the difficult task of telling their four children.