When a young man moves in with his pregnant girlfriend's family in the Pacific Northwest, he feels increasingly trapped by his girlfriend's secrets, her brother's drunken behavior, and the demanding land on the family's orchard.

In Long Beach, California, a religious Chinese immigrant finds a job caring for a teenage boy suffering from leukemia. By watching M*A*S*H and reading the Bible, they find solace in one another during the last months of his life.

A middle-aged writer-turned-community center professor finds her already scarce writing time in jeopardy when her husband’s mother suffers a drug overdose.

After a fifteen-year-old girl makes a bet with her father that after high school she will leave home to never return, her father takes her to the train station early one morning and tells her to leave. When she winds up in Los Angeles, she finds her way there, despite the fact that she does not feel free.

A failing friendship with another couple leads a community college teacher to leave the country.