The title story revolves around a character named Ira. Ira has been recently divorced and has to cope with the newfound freedom and scars from the divorce. He begins dating a woman called Zora. He notices Zora’s strange personality but doesn’t pay it much attention, thinking the relationship fleeting.
Unexpectedly, Ira falls into the safety of having someone again, and starts seeing Zora more frequently. She introduces him to her grownup son, Bruno. Ira notices that Zora has a strange attachment to Bruno, bordering on problematic. They are more close to each other than what Ira deems appropriate. The relationship culminates when he succeeds in taking her out for dinner, finally rid of the presence of her son, but Zora starts panicking and crying because she is away from Bruno. Ira takes her home and decides to end things.
The story called “The Juniper Tree” revolves around a woman who suddenly suffers the loss of a close friend. The rest of the friend group pull her out of the house the night Robin dies, and they drive to Robin’s home. While they drive, the rest of Robin’s friends talk of her as if she’s still alive and waiting for them at her home. They arrive at Robin’s home and, sure enough, the narrator feels her presence. They turn the lights off and Robin (or the ghost of her) joins them as each of them pays tribute to her life.
“Paper Losses” revolves around a woman called Kit, who suddenly senses her husband emotionally distancing himself from her. After all her suspicions are proved wrong, and only one truth remains, namely that he’s cheating on her and wants a divorce, Kit goes through a crisis of lamenting their love and loss of it, as well as the forgetfulness that comes with time. They take a trip to the Caribbean with the children and Kit has a very unpleasant time there, until she finally comes to terms with the loss.
In “Foes” a middle-aged man called Bake and his wife Suzy get invited to a fund-raiser. Bake is a writer, and his talent lies in writing autobiographies of Georges-he currently works on one about George Washington. At the party, Bake meets and starts a conversation with, what looks to him to be an Asian-American woman called Linda. They get into a heated political argument and, in the midst of the conversation, Linda reveals that she is a burn victim. Only then does Bake realize that Linda doesn’t have Asian heritage, but her appearance, come from the way the skin on her face healed. Distraught and confused, Bake seeks refuge from the conversation in his wife.
“Wings” is a story that revolves around a musician called KC who lives in poverty with a leech of a boyfriend called Dench. They move to a suburban neighborhood and KC meets an old man called Milton who lives alone. KC and Dench devise a plan to trick the old man into leaving them his house and belongings after his death. KC starts spending time with Milton and rather enjoys it. As they expected, Milton decides to change his will to leave everything to KC. It all culminates when Milton tries to make a move on KC and tries to assault her. She signs him up into hospice care, ditches the leech boyfriend, and lives contently in the house.
“Referential” is a story about a woman, a mother, whose son has been hospitalized for depression and attempted suicide. She is in a relationship with a man called Pete. Pete reluctantly tries to be at her side and communicate with her son, but she notices the contempt. One night she tells Pete her decision to bring the son home, and upon seeing his reaction, lies about the oncoming phone call being someone looking for Pete. With this lie she uncovers the truth, namely that Pete is not loyal to her and feels relief.
“Thank You For Having Me” is a story that revolves around a second wedding of the narrator’s daughter’s babysitter. The wedding is a messy ordeal, because the best man and performer is the bride’s ex-husband. A group of stoned bikers crash the wedding by mistake, and after they leave, the narrator contemplates on the ridiculousness of life.
