Struggling to write a letter to her old, formidable Mississippian aunt, a woman considers her shame, guilt, exhaustion, and trauma in her Philadelphia apartment that is far from her family and her childhood home.

A middle-aged man has left his wife for another woman, but the two still meet weekly for dinner in San Francisco, each invested in the other's life. The soon-to-be ex-wife had lived with her husband's family in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and often worried about his well-being in the midst of political turmoil. Even years later, her concern for his safety lingers.