In "Marie," the first story in this intense collection, Charlie Porter, 25, is stuck in the small town of Stillman where nothing exciting ever happens. Or does it? Only the mafia hit-woman he's infatuated with knows for sure.

"The Moral of the Story" is a moral about morals. A stranger visits a peaceful village and is welcomed. Why is he there? Is it a test? Only time will tell.

In "The Waiting Room" of a psychologist's office, a man engages a woman in a conversation about personal responsibility and the mores of society. And then he does a great deal more.

In "One Evening on the Pier," the character encounters a living vision on a pier. In the dark.

And in the title story, Ellyn Cochran comes to find that everything is not always as it seems, even in the liberal fairytale world she has hoped for. This is a cautionary tale that is uniquely and unfortunately American.