An aging Southern Belle complicates life for her ambitious son and crippled daughter because of her own warped views of what life should be.

Olly Winter, an African-American Master Sergeant in the Vietnam War, is walking back to allied-controlled land following a battle with the Viet Cong. Along the way, he meets a Vietnamese girl, an orphaned infant, and a dog.

Follows a carpenter who has built his own home, but is now too old and infirm to live on his own, and is sent to live in an old age home against his desires.

After 15 years together, Michael and Lois Graves contemplate divorce. Their friends—three other couples—try to repair their relationship, and ultimately observe the connections that they themselves have.

Ned, a New York editor struggling as a husband and parent, looks back and learns about the difficulties his own parents faced in life.

Following a chance encounter that brings him face to face with his past, conservative businessman Bryan Gray goes in search of Janet Ferguson, an actress with whom he had a relationship many years before. His unwillingness to share private aspects arouses the suspicion of wife Doris, who is determined to know all of his secrets and the motivations behind them.