parents
— A 12-year-old defends her two-dad family through memories of ballet recitals, newspaper rituals, and playground confrontations, asserting that both men are her 'actual dads.'
— On planet Kepler-22b, students compete for honors status while their alien parents work light-years away, until a boy discovers the dark truth behind 'organic' education.
— A 13-year-old observes graduation season from a Manhattan hotel, watching anxious parents at breakfast and contemplating the hidden world awaiting both graduates and herself.
— A girl recalls being praised as 'a little angel' throughout childhood, while her mother's poetry quotation hints at the impermanence of such perfection.
— A girl awaits her mother's return for a crucial school interview, only to learn her mother is hospitalized and she'll enter foster care.
— After her father loses his job and joins the military, Lily struggles with anger and guilt until the day a messenger arrives with devastating news.
— After losing their father and fortune, Elizabeth and her mother survive a deadly storm that destroys their cliff-side house, only to recover their wealth through a rediscovered bank account number.
— An art student struggles to paint a childhood memory she doesn't have, ultimately creating a canvas that blends her parents' first meeting with imagined moments they never shared.
— During a river cleanup, a father's joke about 'raking the river' sparks a daughter's recognition of poetry in everyday moments.
— A girl and her robotic brother accidentally launch themselves into space on their father's NASA rocket, forcing her to disassemble him to return home safely.