Captivating readers with astounding insights into humanity, Alice Munro delivers some of her finest prose in this stunning collection of short stories. In "Runaway," a neighbor helps a wife escape from her husband; in "Passion," alcoholism disrupts a young woman's first love affair; in "Trespasses," 14-year old Lauren learns a disturbing secret about her birth; and in "Tricks," a woman falls for a stranger and agrees to meet him in the same place the following year. The trilogy "Chance," "Soon," and "Silence" depicts a young teacher, Juliet, who meets her lover on a train and then, by terrible chance, visits his home on the day after his wife’s funeral. The concluding story, "Powers," spans 50 years, several towns, and four characters including Tessa, whose psychic powers take her on the vaudeville circuit.