Seventeen tales that explore a wide range of human interaction, including, at best, the possibility of finding within everyday experience something extraordinary, possibly even transcendent. Whether introducing a woman detective trying to cope with a girl's murder, a boy and his brother skiing crosscountry, a young woman skating unexpectedly with a man met years before, a father re-establishing connection with his young son, or an old man remembering lost loved ones on the way to encountering his own mortality--these stories explore a vast range of emotion, motivation, and human experience.