After a school shooting, a teacher and her students struggle to process the trauma and constant fear of death lurking around the corner at any moment. The presence of death looming carries over into the teacher's personal life, including her book club and the friends who attend it.

When a gay writer is hit over the head and knocked out by his Slovenian friend, he finds himself aimless in New York City, unable to do anything more than read about Eastern European history, retell the same story over again, and wait for his friend to return.

An Irish writer working on deadline tells a story about a female marine in Afghanistan who is estranged from her family. As the story grows, the Irish writer is confronted with unwelcome regrets concerning his own difficult family life.