One summer, Aura’s mom leaves her in the care of her half-sister, her father’s daughter, Gus. Although initially upset, Aura quickly grows attached to Gus. They spend their days hanging out and swimming. One day, a boy named Oz starts hanging around the house with Gus. A jealous Aura is frustrated by Gus’s preoccupation with Oz, who lives next door. Whenever he is over, Gus ignores her to make out with Oz. The longer it goes on, the more desperate Aura is for something terrible to happen to Oz. One night, she lies awake imagining his demise while he and Gus have sex in the next room.

One day, Aura, Gus, and Oz go to the beach together. Gus and Oz immediately run into the water and swim out deep, where they have sex. On shore, a fuming Aura digs a giant hole, throwing sand all over their clothes and food. When they return, Gus pulls out lunch. Aura realizes she’s buried all of their other belongings and stomps off towards the nearby stone caves. From afar, she watches Gus and Oz as they furiously dig in the sand, seeming upset.

Eventually, Aura falls asleep. Later in the afternoon, she wakes up to see strangers calling her name on the beach. Upset that Gus isn’t one of them, Aura stays hidden and silent.

After college, the unnamed first-person narrator leaves her home and family and moves to California, wanting a clean break. She lives in a hostel for a while before finding a poolhouse to rent on an elderly woman’s property. When she arrives, she learns she will have to watch the woman Griselda’s difficult mastiff (who has no vocal cords) and caretake the property to maintain the cheap rental price. She accepts, having no other prospects and little money.

Over the following weeks, the narrator settles into her new home. She spends time with Griselda, listening to her outrageous stories about her past life. Since they sound rehearsed, the narrator doubts they are true.

The narrator gets a job at the Department of Human Services, digitizing social work files on children in the system. She is irritated when she gets paired to work with another woman named Anais. Anais is too rigid and listens to an evangelical pastor on her headphones, to whom she also donates money. Over time, however, the narrator comes to appreciate Anais.

One day, Anais tells her about her little girl and reveals that they live in their Volkswagen. During a work party one day, the narrator confronts Anais about how she is doing; she has been worried about Anais after overhearing her recent tense phone call and watching Anais chug two beers at the party. In the restaurant bathroom, the narrator urges Anais to throw up. While helping her clean up afterwards, the narrator discovers scars and bruises on Anais’s neck. The narrator realizes Anais lives in her car because her daughter’s father is abusive.

Afterwards, Anais pulls away from the narrator. Meanwhile, the narrator worries about Anais’s daughter. One day, she rants to her supervisor about Anais, insisting she should use her money to get a proper home for her daughter instead of donating to evangelical churches. The narrator doesn’t think her supervisor will do anything with the information, but soon discovers she has reported Anais to the department. The state took Anais’s daughter away, and Anais disappeared.

Back at home, the narrator and Griselda talk about the bees’ nests on the property. The next day, Griselda has the nests removed. Over the following months, the narrator tries to put Anais out of her mind but can’t. One night, she takes a long run in search of Anais’s car. While out, Griselda stops at the poolhouse to give the narrator some books, and on her way back to the house, her dog knocks her over. Griselda hits her head and can’t get up. When the narrator returns home, she doesn’t notice Griselda lying on her back outside the house, and the dog can’t bark for help.

In the morning, the narrator discovers Griselda half-unconscious on the stone. In the ER, the doctors induce a coma to heal the brain damage, but Griselda doesn’t wake up. Her daughters come to town, and upon meeting the narrator, they initially blame her for their mother’s accident and death; however, they soon soften to her. They are shocked to learn that Griselda told her her stories, which they confirm are all true—they often begged Griselda to talk about her remarkable past, but she had always refused. The daughters sell Griselda’s things and let the narrator stay at the poolhouse until they sell the house.

Thereafter, the narrator finds an assistant job at the local college and secures a new apartment. One day, her mother shows up unannounced, thrilled to have finally found her. The narrator shows her mother around the city, marveling at how different she seems. However, the narrator watches her mother change back into the woman she knew as she goes through airport security.

Years later, the narrator reflects on this era of her life and all that has changed since. She muses on her time in California, how naive she was, and how much she has learned since. She considers her relationships with Griselda and her mom, too, and marvels at the animal and saint inside each woman.