Butler's characters in this collection are drawn from a wide range of social and geographical origins. Each is, in some way, alienated or isolated from significant others in life.

The nameless English gentleman on the Titanic has long been a civil servant in India. He is well-schooled in the theological world view of the Anglican tradition and has learned something of the religious cultures of India as well. He is strongly shaped by the British uppermiddle-class notions of good manners, and although he may not agree with his happenstance companion's views on women's liberation, he is too much the gentleman to be unpleasant about her opinions. The woman he longs to embrace is an American suffragette who is strongly committed to a woman's right to chose her own way in life—and eventually in death as well. She recognizes, once "rescued" into a Washington D.C. hotel...