On his thirteenth birthday, a boy on the edge of puberty climbs the high dive at the public pool for the first time. At the top, he feels as if he can stop time and see the entire world laid out before him — but eventually he must jump.

As a bus travels from Ohio to New York, a man entertains himself by conversing with the passengers he calls "hillbillies" riding along.

The 15-year-old daughter of immigrants works as a keeper for a rural cottage with her parents. She observes the family who takes over the cottage for a week.