A young Black girl confronts her overbearing mother's poverty and her lack of a father when she is coerced into attending a program intended to make her a "professional" member of society who can break the cycle of poverty.

A mother in a 19th century prairie town engages in a prolonged mourning process for her dead husband as she faces more tragedies and avoids her shady father-in-law.

A father who watches his Portuguese neighbors become blessed by material gifts after the death of their father contemplates his own uselessness and begins to believe that his family would be better off without him.

An old man looks back on his boyhood idolization of a soldier he sees in the parade - until his hero is forced off the pedestal after trying to steal a prized horse from the boy's father.

A retired chemist forms a friendship with a young girl whose mother is suspected of poisoning her dead husband. Out of concern, the chemist starts a rift with the woman that has an unexpected romantic ending.

A man who couldn't afford a piano as a child stops to play one in a store as his companion thinks about his potential and the importance of self-confidence.

A seventeen-year-old boy falls in love with a girl, but the boy's boss wants her as a second wife.

A restless housewife gives up sleeping for seventeen days during which she regains the side of her that was lost since she got married. Her lack of sleep finally catches up to her with life-threatening consequences.

A newcomer in a small town joins a knitting group where she learns the trade and gossip about the recent disappearances. After she becomes a proficient knitter, she is invited to a secretive knitting group and discovers the horrific reality behind the missing people.

Upon seeing the image of his friend shot dead in the newspaper, a man reflects on their childhood experience with police corruption and criminals to understand the moment his friend turned to a life of crime.