At the heart of these eleven stories is one question: are women the rational beings we mean to be? Some are ruled by reason, while others allow passion to suppress good sense. In the search for balance, they find their best selves. Or not. Meet the Rational Women On a business trip to Lucerne, a widow follows a stranger into the old town… A chemistry professor's marriage implodes when his wife compounds her discontent… A white novelist writing about racism confronts the disdain of a black critic… A teacher takes her elementary students' futures into her own hands … An empty-nester confronts an unexpected obstacle to fulfilling her dream… A late-life PhD candidate discovers her ex-husband still has a hold on her heart… A businesswoman questions her values when she learns her dead mother was never buried… A newspaper editor comes face-to-face with her biases when she misses the heart of a story… A once aspiring sculptor struggles to mold her newborn… At court to argue a minor trespass, a model citizen considers her crimes… In Paris to satisfy her mother's last wish, a docile office manager's future takes an unexpected turn.