A grocer in desperate need of help enlists a lawyer to fix his problems, though he refuses to trust the lawyer enough to actually receive help.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, a Russian man studying in the United States reconnects with his estranged, ludicrously Communist grandfather. Through letters, phone calls, and eBay, they bond over their shared experiences with death and Soviet life.

When a perpetually unlucky Nigerian American law school dropout meets her parents’ dream son-in-law, she has to pick between finally meeting her parents’ expectations for her and retaining control over her own life, as tempestuous and miserable as it is.

When a teenage girl in 1940s New York City finally conjures up the urge to demand some money that a friend owes her, she’s treated to an afternoon of conversation unlike anything she’s ever heard before.

Protagonist Rose McGworski is a young mother abandoned by her husband but with a passion for bingo and her young son. She glows with pride when the child psychologist informs her that her son must be sent to a school for slow learners, mistakenly believing he’s going there to teach.