A riveting collection of short stories set primarily in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest as well as a few international travel settings. A young girl pins her hopes on her boyfriend's illegal scheme to run away from a dead-end, small-town life. Two orphans find meaning in a discarded canteen and the death of a stray dog in the Mexican desert. Obsessed with a newspaper photo and a local murder, an accountant struggles to make sense of the crime and begins to question her marriage. Heartbroken and unhinged, a traveler crosses borders in the Middle East piecing together how he's arrived in this state and what he must do to get better. A chronic backpacker skirts cultural and moral lines in South America. Still haunted by the disappearance of a childhood friend, a Chicago accountant returns to his small-town neighborhood to find answers. The characters in these twelve stories struggle with numbness, and attempt to find some way to escape or to make peace with their lots.

Several of these stories have previously appeared in various literary publications.