The book opens with a warning: The reader should not read from beginning to end. Instead, they must make choices at the ends of chapters that change the story’s path. If a choice leads to death or an unsatisfying outcome, the reader can start over. The book contains 22 distinct endings, and McFadden encourages the reader to experience all of them.

Sloan, a diner waitress, is broke. After recent legal troubles, she is overdrawn, deep in credit-card debt, and two weeks behind on rent. She shares an apartment with her roommate, Blair, and Blair’s boyfriend, Griff. Disturbed by the couple’s frequent loud intimacy, Sloan lies in bed researching ways to earn money online until she discovers OnlyFans.

Blair bursts in without knocking and demands the overdue rent. She gives Sloan an ultimatum: pay by tomorrow or vacate immediately. Sloan must choose whether to confront Blair (Chapter 2) or reassure her (Chapter 4), the first choice in the novel.

Sloan asserts her tenant rights, declaring that Blair can’t evict her with a day’s notice. Blair retaliates by hurling armfuls of Sloan’s clothing out the window. When Sloan blocks the dresser, Blair summons Griff, a massive man whose footsteps shake the floor.