After their parents divorced in the 1970s, Andre Dubus III and his three siblings grew up with their exhausted working mother in a depressed Massachusetts mill town saturated with drugs and crime. To protect himself and those he loved from street violence, Andre learned to use his fists so well that he was even scared of himself. He was on a fast track to getting killed-or killing someone else. He signed on as a boxer.Nearby, his father, an eminent...

"Daniel Ahearn lives a quiet, solitary existence in a seaside New England town. Forty years ago, following a shocking act of impulsive violence on his part, his daughter, Susan, was ripped from his arms by police. Now in her forties, Susan still suffers from the trauma of a night she doesn't remember, as she struggles to feel settled, to love a man and create something that lasts. Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her, tries to find peace...

A collection of short stories examining the lives of suburbanites seeking solace and gratification in food, sex, work, and love.

Kathy gets evicted from her home for failing to pay a tax she never should have been charged. Put up for auction, the house is bought by a former military officer from Iran named Behrani. When legal efforts fail her, Kathy turns to a sympathetic cop who wants out of a loveless marriage and who is willing to step over legal boundaries if it might give him the fresh start he craves. DVD format.