It is the little people - prostitutes, sailors, dockworkers, illegal immigrants - who confront the big questions of existence in these seven stories: "The fear. Life itself." While these questions may seem simple, the answers are quite complicated. The stories revolve around the search for elusive happiness and the hope of finding love for oneself. They deal with the longing for security and ultimately death, which disrupts all plans. Life is exhausting, for "the further one gets to the end of things, the more the difference between happiness and unhappiness blurs.".