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.

A young Arizonian boy is kidnapped twice: first, by his father during a custody battle, and second, by a prostitute with something to prove.

A bipolar doctor returns to the West Coast after an extended period of practicing medicine in Africa. An unexpected hospital stay makes him remember an old promise he made to his sister.

In a 1960s American suburb, a father promises his three girls a family vacation for Christmas. As they find out months later, however, they won't be going to Disneyland—instead, they'll be spending two weeks in the bomb shelter beneath their backyard.

Two people die of drug overdose and flu and never meet each other, never get married, and never live their seedy, disappointing lives.

Asked by his therapist to tell a fable, a man recounts his unenchanting life as a lawyer married to a depressed, drug-abusing woman, with a disabled son he's struggling to raise. By filling his unremarkable story with sorceresses, magic, and true love, he attempts to romanticize a life he's desperate to escape.

A 20-something-year-old woman returns home to Dublin when she hears that her abusive father is ill. Her return causes her to reevaluate the sexually ambiguous relationship she has with the older man who gave her a home when she had no one else.