With sons and lovers, seducers and friends, husbands lost and regained, or husbands who were never husbands at all, how many men can a woman's lifetime hold? What does it mean to be a man and a woman together; or a man and a woman, once together and now apart? Krauss's stories illuminate the moments in the lives of women in which the forces of sex, power and violence collide.

Switzerland -- Zusya on the roof -- I am asleep but my heart is awake -- End days -- Seeing Ershadi -- Future emergencies -- Amour -- In the garden -- The husband -- To be a man.