The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Paley, Grace. The Collected Stories of Grace Paley. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

The Collected Stories of Grace Paley is a collection of short stories published across the 1950s, 1970s, and 1980s. Each story is written from a distinct narrative vantage and employs a unique form and style. The following summary adheres to the present tense, and a linear mode of explanation.

In "Goodbye and Good Luck," Rose tells her niece stories from her past life, particularly those featuring her romantic relationships.

In "A Woman, Young and Old," Josephine falls in love with her aunt's beau, Corporal Brownstar. She is desperate to get married to prove she is a woman.

In "The Pale Pink Roast," Anna and her ex Peter meet in the park, and later have sex in Anna's new home. Anna reveals she is married.

In "The Loudest Voice," Shirley finds a purpose for her loud voice on the stage during her school's Christmas play.

In "The Contest," Freddy's relationship with Dotty confuses his understanding of romantic relationships.

In "An Interest in Life," after Virginia's husband gives her a broom for Christmas, they get into a fight and he abandons her. She starts a complex relationship with her neighbor's son John afterwards.

In "An Irrevocable Diameter," Cindy's parents take Charles C. Charley to court for raping their daughter. Charles agrees to marry her to avoid prison.

In "The Used-Boy Raisers," Faith realizes that as a single mother, she is profoundly outside the lives of her young male friends, Livid and Pallid.

In "A Subject of Childhood," Faith ends her relationship with Clifford when he accuses her of being a bad mother.

In "In Time Which Made a Monkey of Us All," a local man named Eddie invents a successful bug killer.

In "The Floating Truth," a young girl seeks office work, but must use fraudulent credentials.

In "Wants," a woman encounters her ex-husband on the library steps. In order to prove her capacity for want and change, she returns two books to the library.

In "Debts," a woman decides to write her friend's family's stories.

In "Distance," Dotty feels isolated from her husband and son. She begins relying on the sight of her son walking up the street.

In "Faith in the Afternoon," Faith struggles to maintain relationships with her parents in their old age.

In "Gloomy Tune," a group of neighborhood children grow up to be aggressive and violent.

In "Living," Faith's best friend Ellen dies. She longs to talk to her often.

In "Come On, Ye Sons of Art," couple Jerry and Kitty discuss art and business.

In "Faith in a Tree," Faith sits in a park tree and watches the interactions below. She gains perspective on her life's purpose.

In "Samuel," a boy falls onto the train tracks and dies. His mother mourns him.

In "The Burdened Man," a husband is burdened by finances. He starts sleeping with his neighbor, only to be shot by her husband.

In "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute," Alexandra starts an affair with a young taxi driver. She gets pregnant and raises the child independently.

In "Politics," local mothers ask the city to erect a fence around the playground to protect their children from pedophiles.

In "Northeast Playground," the narrator tries relating to a group of single mothers at the park.

In "The Little Girl," a young girl dies under nefarious circumstances, relating to either sex or suicide.

In "A Conversation with My Father," Faith tries writing a neatly plotted story for her father, but resists this form inherently.

In "The Immigrant Story," a husband and wife discuss their family histories.

In "The Long-Distance Runner," Faith takes up running in her forties. She runs to her childhood neighborhood, and experiences a revelation.

In "Love," a couple argues over past and present lovers after the wife reads her husband a love poem.

In "Dreamer in a Dead Language," Faith struggles to balance her caretaking obligations to her sons and parents, with her desire for freedom and love.

In "In the Garden," an elderly woman talks to a young mother whose daughters were recently kidnapped.

In "Somewhere Else," a group of American tourists do not understand why they cannot photograph Chinese citizens without their consent.

In "Lavinia: An Old Story," an elderly woman considers her son Robert's relationship with Lavinia.

In "At That Time, or the History of a Joke," a woman has a uterine transplant and gives birth to a black baby. She is a virgin. The doctor calls it a miracle.

In "Anxiety," an elderly woman offers a young father words of wisdom from her apartment window.

In "In This Country, But in Another Language, My Aunt Refuses to Marry the Men Everyone Wants Her To," a woman's family teases her about never having had a life.

In "Mother," a woman hears a song on the radio that makes her miss her late mother.

In "Ruthy and Edie," old friends, Ruthy and Edie, cannot agree on a story from their childhood.

In "A Man Told Me the Story of His Life," though Vicente always wanted to be a doctor, he became an engineer.

In "The Story Hearer," the narrator tells her husband Jack about her day.

In "This Is a Story about My Friend George, the Toy Inventor," George tries to perfect pinball machines, but realizes they are already beautiful objects.

In "Zagrowsky Tells," former pharmacist Zagrowsky runs into Faith at the park while he is with his grandson, Emanuel. The encounter makes him defensive and upset.

In "The Expensive Moment," Faith has an intellectual and sexual relationship with a sinologist named Nick.

In "Listening," Faith overhears her husband talking about suicide at a deli. Years later, she and her friend Cassie talk about her stories.