In these stories, the mysterious bonds of family are tested, transformed, fractured, and fortified. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a craggy Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children's game show villainess ushers in the New York with deadbeat half brother. A new couple navigates a tightrope walk toward love. And on a trip to a Texas water park with their son, two fathers each confront a personal fear. McCracken traces how our closely held desires - for intimacy, atonement, comfort - bloom and wither against the indifferent passing of time.