Knowing that his wife only has a year left to live, an elderly man puts aside the bitterness in their marriage to make her as happy and comfortable as possible.

A man who is trying to find his place in the world tries his hand at multiple professions but ultimately settles with painting. Though he has talent as a painter, he leaves his patrons unsatisfied, taking wild artistic liberties he takes with commissions—a lesson which his two closest friends will come to learn when he paints a portrait of one of them.

When a second-rate Czech violinist travels to Iceland to perform around the country, a violent storm breaks out, and he meets an old man on an island who has never heard music before.