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This collection of short stories is about people facing moral or social dilemmas. All of the tales touch on social issues, and the reader's experience is mostly through the thoughts and actions of one, two, or three protagonists. A main character thinks their way through a situation as the reader is treated to the character's thoughts and conflicts. That person interacts with other characters. The situations vary in intensity and perhaps in importance, but each story carries similar messages: everyone is a social being, like it or not, and there is some ambiguity even in friendly interactions with others.
The characters' settings also vary, such as the small town vs. the lure of a city. How might choosing the latter influence a man's perspective? Can a well-to-do, but obscure, venture capitalist truly be friends—and potentially business partners—with a world-famous entertainer? How does America treat people who are left behind by a variety of structures, and how do individuals respond? This theme, in particular, is common to many of the stories.
In a variation on Pogo's classic line, "We have met the enemy, and he is us," Silverman states that in some form, we have met social conditions, and they define us to some degree. In every story, the characters are faced with a portion of who they are, what they do and have, and how they choose to deal with the situation(s) in which they participate. Their actions have both beneficial and not-so-beneficial results. The realism of the situations and the people makes this book easy to read, enjoyable, and relatable.