Ulla rents a room in Peggy's home, and they don't talk much. They have very little in common, so it seems; Ulla is an introverted student beautician who drives a Buick that doesn't belong to her, while Peggy has become too old to keep her driver's license and too lonely to care about her own reputation. In want of company, Peggy makes emergency phone calls to local fire departments, and when there is no fire to put out, she offers coffee and nudity in consolation. Meanwhile, when Ulla is recruited into an intervention for a fellow classmate of hers-someone whom she hardly knows - she is thrown into a new set of circumstances that derails her role as a guest in a foreign home full of sound and silence. Leo, a Native American road striper for the department of transportation, remains haunted by something he can't talk about. While all of his co-workers come to him with their constant litany of everyday dilemmas, Leo chooses to avoid his ghosts in silence. Plus, he's afraid of cows. Leo's inability to face the impending death of his best friend is only frustrated by the seemingly endless army of distractions that he sets up for himself. In the end, when it becomes too late, what remains is not only regret, but also a strange glimpse at hope. Sam works for a bank and is asked to fire Lee, a coworker who manages the marketing department. When Lee tries to explain to his family that he no longer has a job, Sam's son Kyle is stuck in the middle. Having lost Lee's son as a best friend, Kyle confronts his father about Lee's dismissal, and the divide between father and son grows increasingly irreconcilable as Sam attempts to distract the issue. Between Sam's desire to move on with life and Kyle's unrelenting efforts to reverse the events surrounding the lay-off, the pain and confusion that results cannot be cleanly resolved.
