The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Strayed, Cheryl. Tiny Beautiful Things. Penguin Random House LLC, 2022.

Cheryl Strayed's Tiny Beautiful Things is a collection of letters selected from the Dear Sugar advice column. The column originally appeared on the online literary community, The Rumpus. The letters and responses enclosed within Tiny Beautiful Things exemplify the ways in which Strayed embraces empathy, love, and understanding when counseling her correspondents on everything from fear to independence to bravery to sex. The following summary abides by the text's overarching structural format, summarizing each section according to its primary thematic concerns.

In the introduction "I Was Sugar Once: Lessons in Radical Empathy," Steve Almond describes the inception and evolution of the Dear Sugar column. Although he once acted as Sugar, when he later invited Cheryl Strayed to take over the project, the real Sugar was born. What Almond most admires about Sugar is her unparalleled capacity for empathy. By sharing her own stories and betraying the conventions of most advice columnists, Sugar has been able to reach and to transform the lives and hearts of countless readers.

In Part I, "It Was Always Only Us," Strayed presents 11 columns from Dear Sugar. In these selected columns, Sugar addresses her letter-writers' concerns about fearing love, grieving loved ones, flirting with infidelity, despairing over failure, forgiving family members, and retaining friendships.

In Part II, "Whatever Mysterious Starlight That Guided You This Far," Strayed offers 11 more Dear Sugar letters and responses. In this section, she address her correspondents' confusion over life's inexplicability, indecision over future pursuits, fears of becoming a mother, and worries over falling in love with one's best friend. In many of Sugar's responses, she uses her personal experiences to jar her readers' awake and to grant them perspective on their lives.

In Part III, "Carry the Water Yourself," Strayed presents 12 more Dear Sugar column selections. She counsels an individual who is afraid of love, a mother desperate for freedom from her children, a young woman attempting to embrace sexual experimentation, and a young man caught between two relationships. Sugar handles these and other conflicts with empathy and grace.

In Part IV, "You Don't Have to Be Broken for Me," Strayed presents 12 Dear Sugar columns. In these selected pieces, Sugar advises a middle-aged man longing for love, a young woman waning under her brother's abuse, a young woman struggling with addiction, and a man trying to decide if he should become a father. In her responses to these and the other surrounding letters in the section, Sugar urges her correspondents to take risks and to exact change of and for themselves.

In Part V, "Put It In a Box and Wait," Strayed shares 10 more Dear Sugar columns. In this section, Sugar offers advice on issues including infidelity, prostitution, and rage. She uses stories from her own life in order to bolster the counsel she gives.

In Part VI, "We Are the Solid," Strayed presents six final pieces from Dear Sugar. In these letters, Sugar comforts a tired nurse, urges a young woman to bravely make change in her life, and reminds an activist that her work is significant even when it seems invisible.