A writer moves from Chicago to an Oregon beach town to improve her tempestuous relationship with her recovering addict boyfriend but finds their romance endangered more than ever — only this time, it's her fault.

In 2017, a young boy in suburban Maryland is stuck watching his grandfather, an alcoholic former advertising executive who still sees the ghost of the son he killed.

A drug-addled hitchhiker takes a ride with a family. Their car gets in a collision, and the hitchhiker wanders around the scene, unwilling and unable to help.

A homeless heroin addict, hiding from a drug cartel, decides to help a herpetologist track down his missing child bride.

A homeless heroin addict, hiding from a drug cartel, decides to help a herpetologist track down his missing child bride.

Prison inmates are told that they're being sent to scope out a new Earth for mankind to move to, but when they "come back" they find out they have just been play-testing a new virtual reality video game. Prison inmates are used to test a new video game which would have them inhabit a virtually real new planet, but they believe they are truly being sent to another solar system. When they realize that they've just been playing a game, there are long-term psychological impacts.

When the father of her baby overdoses, a young mother with a crippling drug addiction hits rock bottom much faster than she thought possible. All the while, she must take care of her son and figure out how to survive.

A traumatized veteran with destructive magical powers struggles to escape the weight of her past crimes—but finds herself pulled in once more.

After an injury that temporarily prohibits a divorced rancher from working, he frequently visits his imprisoned son, leaving his new ranchhand to develop a curious relationship with his elderly mom.

During the last year of his life, after decades of estrangement due to a drug addiction and an escape from their home in Ohio, a brother reaches out to his long-lost sister.