A grandmother, her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia, and the child's father spend a summer on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland as the family lives with the recent death of the mother.

Billy Pilgrim, an American who served in World War II, experiences a fractured relationship with time after the war. The novel follows episodes of his life — including his capture and survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden — presented out of chronological order.

Two girls grow up together in a Black Ohio neighborhood and their friendship—shaped by class, family, and local expectations—becomes a lasting pressure that reshapes both their lives and the community around them.

Set in a recent historical past, the story focuses on a coal-merchant and shopkeeper whose ordinary routines are interrupted when he encounters evidence of suffering connected to a local institution.