When a postman in Trenton, New Jersey succumbs to tetanus, his fellow townspeople learn that he’d spent decades stealing their mail, leading to a town-wide hatred of the dead man.

After a man's wife dies in childbirth, he hires a nanny to take care of his children. The children develop a loving relationship with the nanny, while the father brings in numerous stepmothers.

A son tells a series of stories, most of them about his father and stepfather. As the son describes a robbery that took place at his house in high school and his experiences with his father, a former Jehovah's Witness and current alcoholic, he begins to recall details from his childhood.

After watching his mother lose both of her past lovers to suicide, a young boy wonders what will become of his mother's new marriage to a rich man named Gent.

An older man, recently retired, lives in Paris with his younger husband who is often traveling for work. Though the man is reluctant when his husband first brings home a dog, the pet soon becomes his close companion as he struggles with aging, questions his marriage, and faces trauma from his youth.

During WWII, years after his parent's divorce, a college student and his brother visit their father and his new wife. However, the visit leaves him disappointed at what his father's life has become.

A middle-aged man grieving the recent death of his father visits the families of his ex-wife and his current lover. As he does, he is deeply grieved by the passage of time and how his life has changed so much in a matter of years.

After their parents' divorce, two siblings strive to keep their mother from remarrying. As the family lashes out at each other, the sister has a change of heart.