The following version of this book was used to create the guide: July, Miranda. All Fours. Riverhead Books, 2024.

Miranda July's novel All Fours is written from the first-person point of view of the unnamed main character and set in Monrovia and Los Angeles, California. The novel abides by a primarily linear narrative plot line and is written in the past tense. For the sake of clarity, the following guide employs the present tense.

The 45-year-old narrator receives $20,000 after a whiskey company licenses one of her sentences for their new ad campaign. Feeling stifled in her home life and stuck in her creative work, the narrator decides to use the money to take a cross-country drive to New York. Her husband Harris supports the plan and agrees to take care of their child Sam for the two-and-a-half duration of her trip.

Just 30 minutes into her cross-country venture, the narrator gets off the highway in Monrovia to fill up her gas tank. She notices a young man washing her windshield, and feels an energy between them. Shortly thereafter, when she stops for lunch at a local restaurant, she runs into the young man again. She approaches him because she is eager to entertain conversations with random strangers throughout her journey. He introduces himself as Davey and tells her about his job at Hertz, his wife Claire's interior decorating job, and their attempts to save $20,000. The narrator assumes that he does not know she is a somewhat famous artist who simply needs to talk to someone. However, she cannot help feeling intrigued by him. She runs into him several more times while she is in town.

The narrator rents Room 321 at the Excelsior motel and decides to stay there instead of completing her trip to New York. She hires Claire to redecorate her room, paying her the sum of her windfall for the project. The narrator is thrilled with the outcome and basks in the luxury of the room. She keeps in touch with Harris, telling him that she made it to New York. She also contacts her agent Liza to cancel her meetings and reservations in the city. Meanwhile, she keeps in touch with Jordi, her best friend and confesses the truth of what she is doing.

Over the following days and weeks, the narrator starts spending time with Davey. They meet up every afternoon after Davey gets off work and take drives or hikes. Soon they start hanging out in Room 321, too. Although they confess their feelings for each other, Davey makes it clear that they cannot have sex. However, they do engage in other intimate activities like cuddling, hugging, and dancing. Davey is also passionate about dancing, and makes dances specifically for the narrator. At the end of the narrator's trip, Davey says they have to end their communication. The narrator drives tearfully home.

The narrator struggles to reorient to her life in L.A. She tries channeling her heartbreak into spending time with Sam or cleaning, but cannot fully engage. Then one day, her gynecologist tells her that she is entering perimenopause. The narrator is terrified that she is losing her cultural relevance and sexual viability. She decides to embrace her feelings for Davey instead of trying to eradicate them. She gets into shape, choreographs a dance, returns to Monrovia, records the dance in the Excelsior parking lot, and posts it to social media. She hopes Davey will see it and meet her at the motel. However, he does not show up. She learns from Davey's mom's friend Audra that Davey and Claire moved to Sacramento two months prior.

The narrator spends the night with Audra and experiences a sexual awakening. Shortly after she returns home, Harris confronts her about her video, accusing her of disrespecting him. They enter an era of sustained silence, which the narrator fears will end in divorce. However, they eventually decide to start seeing other people but to remain married. Harris begins dating a woman named Paige, and the narrator starts seeing a woman named Kris. The arrangement liberates the narrator and makes her feel better about herself and her life. However, when Kris abruptly breaks up with the narrator, she despairs.

Then one day, Liza helps the narrator arrange a meeting with a pop star named Arkanda, whom the narrator was supposed to work with months prior. Arkanda wants to see the narrator because they both experienced fetal-maternal hemorrhage, or FMH, a rare birth phenomenon. Before Arkanda, the narrator has never met another woman who had FMH and whose child survived. During their meeting, the women share their traumatic experiences. The next day, the narrator wakes up and starts writing a new novel.

Four years later, the narrator flies to New York. She is starting a tour for her new book and has a reading in the city. While there, she texts Davey, who invites her to his dance performance. At the performance, the narrator marvels at Davey's skill and talent. She realizes that beauty exists everywhere.