A man bears witness to his grandfather's deathbed confessions, which reveal his family's long-buried history and his involvement in a mail-order novelty company, World War II, and the space program.

"For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children--Alex, now fifteen, and Luna, six--in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty's parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses...

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of a revolution.

As John Baxter plans to marry Elaine, other members of the Baxter family confront new challenges as they deal with memories of the past, the changes of the present, and preparations for the future.

After she discovers that her husband has been reading her diary, Irene America turns it into a manipulative farce, while secretly keeping a second diary that includes her true thoughts about her shaky marriage, its affect on her children, and her struggles with alcohol.

"From a distance, Michael and Joleen Zarkades seem to have it all: a solid marriage, two exciting careers, and children they adore. But after twelve years together, the couple has lost their way; they are unhappy and edging toward divorce. Then the Iraq war starts. An unexpected deployment will tear their already fragile family apart, sending one of them deep into harm's way and leaving the other at home, waiting for news. When the worst happens,...

Six short works include the stories of a couple who become estranged after a mysterious man claims he grew up in their house, and a Russian bus boy who is entangled with an organized crime ring.

Psychologist Alan Gregory struggles to adapt to a shaky marriage and new fatherhood, a situation that is complicated by his ex-wife's entreaty to help her find her pregnant surrogate.

Jo Marie Rose welcomes a new set of guests, including a cancer survivor who regrets ending a relationship with the one man she truly loved and a woman who remembers her own broken engagement while planning an anniversary celebration for her grandparents.