In a desperate bid to escape abuse in the midst of a cruel post-apocalyptic world, five girls find salvation in the arms of an imagined deity.

Deaf protagonist Janie and her controlling mother are visited by a travelling documentarian working for the WPA, who brings Janie along on his work days against her mother’s will and confides in Janie about his own mother who was deaf and killed by his abusive father. The morning after Mr. Clark’s departure, Janie finds her mother dead.

Terrence and Ruth, a middle-aged couple, move house for a fresh start - but their new house is in disrepair. Ruth contends with sickness, unfulfillment, and her staling marriage while laboriously cleaning it.