This collection of stories presents characters drawn with such depth and detail that you will swear you met them somewhere before. The self-described "old maid" who marries at 73. The high school principal who sees his orderly existence upended by a new colleague. The middle-aged, divorced woman who has a series of dreams that alter the course of her life. Whether facing the circumstances of their lives with clear vision or stumbling along with unwitting blindness, these and other characters are never less than recognizable human beings with contradictions and secrets hidden even from themselves. Told with humor and poignancy, these eight intimate stories speak to the spiritual question of what matters in life and remind us that things, and people, are not always what they seem.