In the first vignette, "Garland," a woman goes on a trip with two friends after her mother's death. They visit a beach town. The woman's friends shuttle her between various activities—biking, shopping—as she mourns. In the second vignette, "Mexico," the woman's father suffers from dementia. Although they are living alone together, they find it difficult to talk to one another at all. The woman reflects on her relationship with her late mother. In the final vignette, "Trouble in Paradise," the woman washes dishes with her mother-in-law on Christmas. As her mother-in-law tells her about her best friend's death, the woman remembers washing dishes with her own mother. She thinks about how she wanted to talk to her mother, but how she never wanted it when actually faced with the possibility. The woman thinks about moments in which one breaks through into a deeper reality. She thinks about how she didn't know that her mother-in-law had been carrying the death of her friend at the forefront of her mind for fifty years and how one's judgments about others are often incorrect.