An old man tells his nephew a story about how an incident involving a stolen lock eventually led to the creation of a town in 19th-century Mississippi.

In the near future, an investigative journalist interviews several key players in the rise of a genetic enhancement drug that has made predominantly white Americans Black.

As Tamil people on the hillside celebrate the eve of their independence, a young Indian boy plots his escape to the city.

In a desperate bid to escape abuse in the midst of a cruel post-apocalyptic world, five girls find salvation in the arms of an imagined deity.

An elderly woman prepares for her death, but is anxious for someone to listen to her precious memories and cherish them after her death.

In conversation, a Black girl recalls the day she ate a caterpillar as a child, and her mother discloses the more violent events that happened the same day.

In a poignant reflection on the legacies of the past, a man finally hears from his grandmother the full account of his great-grandfather’s death at the hands of a close friend.

After a woman gives birth, her husband dies and she hallucinates a laughing "chinaman." She comes to see "chinamen" as an omen of death, and goes the rest of her life fearful that she will encounter another one.

When a worker at a grocery store witnesses a man's arm get severed while attempting to grab a watermelon, it reminds him of an old story during slavery where a watermelon was the symbol of a blessing.

A mechanical mother bird tells her three children two stories: one of patricide, and the other of a human and a mechanical being and their marriage.