A seven-year-old plantation heir overhears his mother and her friend discuss the allure of black women. He then discovers a dark secret about his family tree, which leads him to a breaking point.

In 1970s America, a teenage girl observes her parents and the members of their synagogue's Torah study group as they gather each Sunday to play poker. One day, she catches the rabbi bluffing.

Faced with cancer, Mrs. Wilson confronts her impending death. She finds new strength fight her prognosis with a book, The Will to Live, by the philosopher Schopenhauer.