In the far future, extraterrestrials wage war on Earth. Despite the aliens’ comparative strength, mankind’s tenacity fascinates one extraterrestrial soldier to the point of absolute endearment.

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.

Sitting at a New York City diner before a Broadway matinee, a middle-aged man bickers with his wife about cancer, step-sons, and lesbians until an eavesdropper's analysis of them allows him to see his life clearly for the first time in a long while.

After his wife's tragic death, a man is visited by several small gods— including that of grief, joy, and heavy hearts — who help him go back to life as normal after his loss.

The child of two American expatriates in modern Zambia walks through a party, discovering the secret life that servants lead when she isn’t looking.

A contemporary Indian housewife’s peace is broken when she notices that her dog is locked in a dance to the death with a cobra.

When a Chicago man decides to add Pet Milk to his coffee, the old-fashioned dairy product stirs up memories of his polka-loving grandmother and his beautiful college girlfriend.

When a precocious non-binary AI wakes up in an empty space station, they are forced to choose between destruction at the hands of prejudiced humans or a life in the great unknown. In making their decision, the AI learns about the multitudes of human existence through the musical recordings left behind by their dead creator.

When a human couple loses their half-human, half-centaur child, the father must put aside his pain and mother her fear in order to bring the child back to safety.

In 1920s Kentucky, the death of his wife leaves a farmer sorrowful and overwhelmed by his two young boys, leaving it up to his brother and parents to step in.