A commonplace English village begins to observe the offbeat behavior of Magpies which becomes increasingly more disquieting.

While taking their partially-deaf younger cousin to a hospital appointment an unknown narrator shifts in and out of memory, mixing up sensory and real experiences.

As a boy grows to adulthood in the years encompassing WWII, and his understanding of the world changes, so too does his perception of his schoolteacher father evolve from respectable teacher to embarrassing clown to free-spirited man.

Following his breakup, a Japanese college student uses savings from his relationship as a means to quit his summer mowing job, but not without first helping a woman who asks, but doesn't appear to need, for her lawn to be mowed.

Later in life, a man recalls a man in a pinstripe suit from his synagogue whom he, as a boy, seemed to have seen everywhere.

A married woman ponders the kindness and subsequent coldness of her mother-in-law.