A Native American boy finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into quicksand as his horse watches, hoping that someone somehow will know he's in trouble, despite the lack of evidence for such a suspicion.

A middle-aged writer turns back the clock by twenty years and narrates his ill-fated romance with the beautiful but unattainable girl from his memories.

A man recalls the story of a young family in a small town during the Great Depression who were forced to make ends meet in clandestine ways.

Ignoring numerous warnings from others, a mother promises her eleven-year-old daughter that she can have a slumber party for her birthday, which proves to be a little more hectic than she can handle.

After a ten-year-old boy joins his parents in bidding his grandfather farewell as he leaves New York for Germany, he experiences the first major loss of his youth and struggles to understand the complexity of the experience.

A small town devolves into fear and confusion as a man sits atop a flagpole for forty days straight with no food or explanation.

While visiting her estranged father in Paris, a little girl makes a friend with an initially unwelcome critter.

A deputy warden gives a tour of a prison.

In the northern United States, a nineteen-year-old soldier receives advice after reuniting with his seemingly apathetic magician father in a cold 20th century winter. As they each learn more about their relationship, father and son argue about their priorities in life and whether or not these obligations are worth more than family.

A drunken repo man takes a gangster's car and tells himself he is not afraid of the consequences.