A mercurial girl named Pony crashes into the life of protagonist Henry Thigpin and his older roommate Mike, and the three form an offbeat domestic triangle. When Henry falls for Pony even after she has warned him not to, Pony works to sabotage their friendship.

A man remembers a fateful autumn during his junior year of high school, which he spent playing football in apple orchards, riding in his best friend's car, and falling in love.

In a world where most humans have died off, a group of robots is left to learn how to operate in the world for themselves.

A rational New York accountant gets into a dramatic dispute with his mother over the veracity of a tabloid conspiracy theory.

A woman decides to invite Death to her party, but is surprised by Death's request of her.

A college professor goes on a wilderness retreat to better connect with some ideas of American Literature, but his plan backfires and turns into a learning moment for his students.

A dysfunctional couple argues while detectives search their Bay Area neighborhood for a man who stabbed a police officer.

In a series of commentaries on the human condition — life, truth, happiness, death — a spinster sister takes in her dead sister’s children; a man is entranced by the endless waves which roll and crash in the ocean; a carpenter wrestles with the burden of being everyone’s confidante; a dying railroad crossing watchman shares a simple but complex wisdom.

Two men have been locked underground somewhere in Utah, Montana, or Idaho with instructions to wait for a monitor's signal then each turn a key in a lock simultaneously to fire a "bird" at an unknown target city. They also have guns and instructions to shoot the other if the other behaves strangely.

While comatose, a sixty-five-year old man reflects on his past love for a city called Williamstown as his grown children discuss his terminal illness.