The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Schweblin, Samanta. Seven Empty Houses. Penguin Random House LLC, 2022.

Samanta Schweblin's Seven Empty Houses is a collection of seven short stories. Each of the enclosed short stories possesses a distinct narrative world, set of narrative conflicts, plot structure, and point of view. The following summary relies upon the present tense and offers a streamlined mode of explanation.

In "None of That," the unnamed first person narrator accompanies her mother on an excursion to look at other people's houses. For as long as she can remember, she and her mother have spent time this way. Although she wants to ask her mother why she is obsessed with visiting others' homes, altering their yards, moving their objects, pushing inside, and stealing their possessions, the narrator fears that doing so will upset her.

Then one night, the narrator and her mother get stuck in the mud of an unpaved neighborhood. While the narrator searches for wood to help release the car, the mother sneaks inside a neighborhood woman's home. The narrator does everything in her power to get her mother out, finally resorting to dragging her by the arm. When they get home, the woman shows up at their door, insisting the mother stole her sugar bowl. The narrator tells her to search their house if she wants it back.

In "My Parents and My Children," first person narrator Javier visits with his parents and children at a rental house. When his ex-wife Marga shows up and finds Javier's parents running naked in the yard, she is furious. She becomes even more upset when the children disappear with their grandparents. Throughout their search for the four family members, Javier realizes how empty his life with Marga was. Although he discovers the children's whereabouts as he and Marga are driving away in search of them with the police, Javier does not tell her.

In "It Happens All the Time in This House," the first person unnamed narrator stops washing dishes to answer her neighbor Mr. Weimer's knock at the door. She knows why he is there. Ever since his and his wife's son died, his wife has been throwing their late son's clothes into the narrator's yard and then demanding her husband collect them shortly thereafter. While sitting in the yard with Mr. Weimer, the narrator tries to think of something to say that might release him from his grief.

In "Breath from the Depths," Lola decides that if she wants to die, she must encourage death to come for her. She thinks that sorting through and packing up all of her and her husband's belongings into boxes will help. Meanwhile, she grows increasingly frustrated that her husband has not told her why he is spending time with the neighbor boy. Not long after her husband dies unexpectedly, the boy starts appearing at Lola's house and tormenting her. When she tells his mother what he is doing, however, the mother informs Lola that her son is dead and that his death was Lola's fault.

In "Two Square Feet," the unnamed first person narrator has recently moved to Spain with her husband. One night, after her mother-in-law tells her a story, she sends the narrator on a late-night errand for aspirin. While wandering the unfamiliar city, the narrator continues thinking about her mother-in-law's story. She feels increasingly alone throughout the course of the night. Then, while watching the trains come and go on the subway platform, she realizes that she belongs nowhere at all.

In "An Unlucky Man," the unnamed eight-year-old narrator's sister Abi drinks bleach on her birthday. The family races to the hospital. The narrator waits in the waiting room. A man sits down and starts talking to the narrator. When the man learns that the narrator is not wearing underwear, he offers to escort her to a nearby store to find a new pair. The narrator agrees. When they return to the hospital lot, the narrator's parents are talking to police. The police tackle and arrest the man.

In "Out," the narrator flees a conversation with her husband in her bathrobe and slippers. Out on the street, she accepts a ride from the fire escape repairman she recently met in the elevator. Over the course of her time outside of the apartment, the narrator attempts to decipher her emotions. Once she returns home, she decides not to tell her husband the thing she knows she should tell him.