Facebook and the internet have changed our lives. They offer a glut of information but little personal connection. This is what Edwin Goodeve discovers in the months after his wife's death. Edwin's editor at the Detroit News is running out of patience; he wants a new article. After a chance encounter in the laundry room of his apartment complex, Edwin realizes what the article should be. He decides to interview five neighbors about important moments in their lives, important moments in America.

Savannah Chambers is a cocktail waitress at a local casino. She is a rape victim trying to make sense of her life.

Marybelle Styron is a young woman living in North Carolina in the '60s who finds herself thrust into the beginnings of the civil rights movement.

Standish Rosen is a young lawyer in the 1980s working on a landmark environmental court case, who finds himself falling in love with the opposing counsel.

Scott Summers is a fifth grader during the September 11th attacks who is scared and confused.

William Howell is an army officer stationed in Germany during the Korean war. He is under the command of a Jewish Captain who lost an uncle to the Holocaust.

While hearing their stories, Edwin begins to reconnect with society and find his own way back to life.