To improve its relations with Muslim countries, the United States government sends comedian Albert Brooks to south Asia to write a report on what makes followers of Islam laugh.

During the 1980s the US is hit by a wave of nuclear attacks, and after the fallout those who remain pretend like everything is normal even though they are all experiencing radiation poisoning. A young girl named Mayday tries to make contact on a series of ham radios with her father who is in space on a shuttle mission.

A pregnant trans woman in the heat of active labor battles strict medical protocols and her family’s doubts to have a natural birth.