Beyond's young-adult short stories cross culture and take place in settings from North America to Europe. A metaphysical/religious motif binds the collection, and stories are set in times dating back to 1932-when swing dancing was the rage-up to a recent state science competition in New Mexico. "Play" deals with a girl's attempt to mitigate her feelings about violence in the home; in "Callanish Stones," a young boy is foung on a remote beach on Scotland, barely alive; "Finding Edith Allen" centers on young woman in search of her birth mother; and "Mont-Saint-Michel" tells the story of a child raised by a bishop in France. The stories mix male and female protagonists with families and friends, often in school settings.