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.

After a terrifying illness, an Indian grandmother drops everything and moves to live with her son and his wife in California. What she finds is a family that has begun to leave behind the traditions she cherishes, and her desperate attempts to save them only intensify her suffering.

A pregnant narrator navigates her Chinese in-law’s opinions about America when they come to visit before she gives birth.

A Russian Jewish immigrant is at a loss for words when his young daughter asks him a philosophical question. He remembers his childhood in his family's peasant village.