In each story, events make the characters understand that their world is not as it seemed.
In "Hidden", the discovery of an affair between her father and aunt is only the start of finding hidden secrets for Hazel.
"What It Means to Be Empty-Handed" is narrated by a fourteen–year-old daughter of an alcoholic. Her denial and elaborate imagination starts to disintegrate when she lies to the wrong person.
In "Communion", a seven-year-old boy believes the mourners arriving at his best friend's house next door are attending a party and he wants to go.