A young boy describes his life with each of his divorced parents and also discusses aspects of himself that could be considered strange, such as walking around with soap in his hair or squawking like a chicken on the phone.

Bonnie Markham, her divorce pending and her quilt shop out of business, accepts an offer from her friend Claire to help run a quilting retreat at a bed and breakfast in Hawaii where she learns the quilting traditions of the islands, but her idyll is threatened by her estranged husband's demand for her share in the Elm Creek Quilts cooperative.

Karol, a Polish hairdresser working in France, faces a crushing divorce and is forced to begin a new life in his native Poland; but instead of rebuilding his life, he plans a dangerous scheme of vengeance against his former wife.