In the stillness of the air every tree, every leaf, every bough, every tendril of creeper and every petal of minute blossoms seemed to have been bewitched into an immobility perfect and final. Nothing moved on the river but the eight paddles that rose flashing regularly, dipped together with a single splash?

Somewhere deep in the jungles, in a boat anchored on a lagoon, a man listens to the doomed love story of his friend and his dying lover. In an apple orchard, a philosopher tries hard to decipher the codes of love, little realizing that he is ruining his own chances. With stories from writers like O. Henry, Joseph Conrad, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekov and others, this collection brings alive the many shades of love, from the heartbreaking to the joyous.