A young man who went broke moves back to Chicago and lives in his aunt's basement. Meanwhile, he becomes a roofer where he is exposed to a spectrum of poverty, racism, and power among his colleagues.

A Scottish family in the early 1800s spends six weeks on a ship bound for the Americas. Each family member has vastly different experiences as they await their fates across the sea.

A person cooks spaghetti every day for a year to distract themselves from their loneliness.