At Schindler's
This is a story about a boy named Jack whose father has gone missing in war. His mother is hopeful at first that he will come back, but as the time goes by she loses hope and starts moving on with her life. Jack is having a hard time accepting this and refuses all of his mother's partners until Milt comes along. Milt is different from others, and he and Jack get along well. The three of them decide to go to a guesthouse called At Schindler's. Jack is still having difficulties to accept his mother's and Milt's relationship, that is, until he catches them in bed together. After that, Jack accepts that his father is gone, and he decides to move on with his life as well.
Closer
Amy and her family live according to the Bible, they follow the word literally. Her Uncle Charles is an outcast who moved to Sydney, or Sodom, as Amy's Grandpa calls it. He comes back to his family from time to time, but they don't allow him inside, so he just watches and shouts from the street while they have dinner inside. This happens every year but one year, Uncle Charles doesn't come. Amy has a dream where he walks through the fence toward his home. She sees this as a message and dreams of the next time when Uncle Charles will come, and she will help him get over the fence and return home.
The protagonist of the story is Colin, a writer who has dreams of his past, of his childhood. The story begins with an event when his dog got a disease, a heartworm and was taken by his parents away from home. Colin leaves his home in the middle of the night and finds his dog, hugs him and hides. He doesn't want to come out despite his parents reaching his hands toward him. As a middle-aged man Colin returns to his home in Brisbane, reunites with his cousin and ends up in prison after being attacked by a suicidal man. After he gets out of prison, Colin has a dream of going back to the moment where he hugs his ill dog and refuses to accept the outstretched hand to come out.
Night Training
The story is about two young boys who found themselves in military camp being bullied by one of the superior guys. Dave Kitchener enters Greg and Cam's room every night, makes them strip and have nightly drill. This goes on for some time, until Greg and Cam are no longer the youngest there. Ashamed of what they've been through, Greg and Cam become distant, and the entire thing begins to feel like a dream. Greg becomes less angry and even begins to understand Dave's meaning. One night he has a dream of going back to that time, of having to wake Cam for the drill, but this time he decides to say no. But this time, there was no one to hear him.
Sally's Story
Sally is a nineteen-year-old girl who decides to work as a prostitute for soldiers. The time comes when the men have to go to the war and Sally returns to her home. There she becomes aware of a man with two kids who was left by his wife. He picks her up one day to save her from rain and she starts living with him and his children. That is Sally's story.
Jacko's Reach
The story is about a place called Jacko's Reach which is about to get destroyed and new supermarket will take its place. The narrator talks about nostalgia connected to the place, events that happened there that marked his childhood and how the symbolism of the place will remain even after it's gone.
Lone Pine
This grim story is about a couple, Harry and May, going on a road-trip. While staying in a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere, they get awoken in the middle of the night by a young family and brought outside and killed by the young father of the family.
Blacksoil Country
The story is told by young boy called Jordan who moves to a country inhabited by native black people. One day Jordan and his friend Jamie go to observe the black people and Jamie suddenly gets an idea to shoot at one of them. This results in retaliation and one of the white children go missing. It all leads into a bloody hunt of the native black people and Jordan's name consequently becomes a symbol of justification of those killings. All the while, Jordan only wanted to enjoy in the blacksoil country, which he grew to love.
Great Day
It is a familial story in which the head of the family Audley is celebrating his seventy-second birthday. The museum he inherited gets accidentally burned down and Audley is trying to reconcile with passage of time death. Clem, his son who got into an accident which left him mentally hindered, provides a comforting speech on the night of his birthday about every heartbeat having a meaning and all creatures having a place in the world. Audley concludes that it was a great day and reveals these thoughts to his compassionate daughter-in-law Angie.
