The birds revolt against mankind the climber on Mount Verita discovers the awesome cost of giving your all to the mountains a malformed apple tree bears an uncanny resemblance to a neglected wife amusing herself with the little photographer has far reaching consequences for the Marquise love promised by a glowing stranger becomes a darker intimacy family jealousies take an unexpectedly violent form in these six stories, the weak, the dispossessed and the exploited wreak their revenge on a complacent world