A writer moves from Chicago to an Oregon beach town to improve her tempestuous relationship with her recovering addict boyfriend but finds their romance endangered more than ever — only this time, it's her fault.

An eccentric engineering exam in the far future introduces candidates to tales of three impossible machines—one to distort the physical world, one to travel through it, and one to grant telepathy to a community—and asks them to reflect on these technologies' impact on humanity. Through three tales of impossible machines with abilities to manipulate the physical world, travel through time and space, and bestow telepathy onto an entire community, candidates of an engineering exam in the far future are asked to ponder fantastical implications of technology.

In the near future, a young mother leaves behind a book for her daughter before she embarks on her space journey to the outer solar system in an attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial creatures. Sections from her book are interspersed with her husband's verbal recollections of their love story, which he addresses to their young daughter.

In 2018, a pedestrian on the New York City’s Lower East Side witnesses a young Black couple in love, prompting a consideration about the storytelling, hope, and Nelson Mandela.

A conversation with his former lover opens a man's eyes to his tendency to flee rather than confront the hopeless reality of his own life.

When her husband leaves, a divorced woman finds comfort in her home with another version of herself.

During the Second World War, a woman falls in love with a Merchant Marine and agrees to marry him just before he is deployed - but their whirlwind love story is fated to have a tragic end.

In an apocalyptic future shaken by earthquakes, an optimistic painter and a pragmatic, pink-haired engineer find love on a crumbling lakeside pier in between the trembles.

In a world where death is impermanent, a young woman wakes again and again in a futuristic dating center where wealthy men visit long-dead women and decide whether or not to pay for their body's full revival.

Dan and Nancy spend the summer in a remote town Northern California to rekindle their marriage after they discover each other's infidelity, but below the surface, they both know their efforts are in vain.