Over dinner, an observer reflects on mothers and their omnipresent prevalence in children’s lives.

While she prepares for church one morning, an elderly woman reflects on her tumultuous relationship with her son-in-law, a Vietnam War veteran, and her daughter and granddaughters, who she couldn’t protect from his violence.

The children in a family grow tired of hosting their middle-aged cousin, but his expulsion brings unexpected strife to the family.

A child observes their father’s strange obsession with dressing up the pole in their front yard as they grow up.

Having just lost their mother, three siblings do their best to preserve her memory even as they deal with unsympathetic adults determined to force change into their lives.

A somewhat estranged family grapples with the impending death of their mother.

On the day of her mother's funeral, a young woman reminisces about the summers during her childhood spent with her family and friends at their lakeside cabin. As she considers her parents' nontraditional relationship, she also wonders about her own love life.

In an attempt to impress his emotionally distant father, a boy ridicules his mother, who has loved him unconditionally even in his father's absence. Wracked with guilt, he yearns for her forgiveness - only to find that she does not hold it against him.

After experiencing what should have been the most idyllic childhood, four siblings must learn how to assimilate back into the real world.

When a family reunion brings together siblings, they realize they are now more like strangers. At the end of the day, a shocking incident tests their bonds.