The following version of this novel was used to create the guide: Mathews, Sarah Thankam. All This Could Be Different. Viking, 2022.

All This Could Be Different begins when an Indian-American woman named Sneha elects to take a high-paying corporate position at a firm in Milwaukee in spite of the fact that she has no connections there whatsoever. Luckily for Sneha, her boss, Peter, agrees to finance Sneha's apartment—although Sneha's landlord, Amy, is vindictive and cruel—and Sneha's close friend from school, Thom, moves alongside her after securing a job at the same company as Sneha. Upon arriving in Milwaukee, Sneha grows lonely, and begins frequenting a lesbian bar in an effort to jumpstart a romantic life; though she has a few encounters with a woman she refers to as Pulp Fiction, the woman who Sneha is truly drawn to, Marina, continually eludes her. As Sneha's dating life spins its wheels and her friendship with Thom grows strained by a disagreement they have over the ethics of landlording (Sneha supports it, and Thom is against it), she befriends a Black person named Tig, in whom Sneha confides that her parents were deported from the United States after her father found himself involved in a visa fraud scandal. Meanwhile, Sneha's old friend Amit comes to town, and agrees to accompany Sneha to one of Thom's house parties in spite of the fact that Sneha both attacks Amit's friend Emily for their non-binary identity and insults Amit's childhood friend KJ, whom Amit has been supporting financially while she recovers from a drug addiction.

Thom's party goes poorly after Sneha inadvertently crashes Thom's car, but at its conclusion Amit introduces Sneha to a woman he has been talking to all night, who turns about to be Marina. Sneha and Marina exchange phone numbers, and several of Sneha's friends at the party help her sneak back into her apartment that evening after she realizes that she has misplaced her keys, causing her to feel a growing sense of community in Milwaukee. This sparks tension between Sneha and Peter when Amy complains to Peter that Sneha has been a rude tenant, which prompts Sneha to ignore it when the apartment's heat goes out and instead begin unofficially living with Marina. Although the pair live happily together for some time, they begin to have disagreements when Marina questions why Sneha is unwilling to make their relationship official. After navigating conflict in her relationships with Marina, Thom, and Tig, Sneha manages to right the situation just in time for Thom to be fired by Peter on the eve of Sneha's trip to India, where she intends to visit her parents.

Sneha's visit to India goes well until her mother asks her to attend the funeral of Sneha's uncle, Monchayan, and Sneha is forced to reveal to her family that Monchayan sexually abused her when she was a child. When Marina comes home to Milwaukee, Tig informs her that they have been working on a manifesto and identify as non-binary, which Sneha responds to positively before confessing to Tig that she has run out of money and is no longer being paid for her work by Peter. Marina and Tig jointly throw a birthday party for Sneha, and she is thrilled to be celebrated by her friends. This happiness on Sneha's part is interrupted somewhat when an Indian woman approaches her and Marina over dinner and asks Sneha if she is interested in arranging a marriage to her son, which prompts Sneha to begin wondering if her own parents (whom she has told Marina are dead) would ever accept her sexuality.

Peter calls Sneha into his office and announces rather suddenly that the firm is closing, which leaves Sneha without any form of employment; she begins watching Marina's apartment for her while Marina leaves on a dance tour. Amit contacts Sneha and asks her to pick KJ up from a sentencing hearing, at which point Sneha learns that Tig and KJ are siblings; after Tig confronts Amy on Sneha's behalf while driving her home, Amy contacts Peter and has Sneha evicted from the apartment. Although Marina allows Sneha to stay with her at her apartment, Sneha realizes that Peter has been withholding money from her and is unsure how to respond. Two of Marina's dancer friends visit from Los Angeles, and after a long and expensive evening out in celebration of Marina's birthday, Sneha accidentally lets slip that her parents are alive, ending the relationship between Marina and Sneha. Fortuitously, Sneha is offered a job in Washington, D.C., which she accepts. She manages to make amends with Marina and her friends before departing from Milwaukee, and even comes out to her mother.

Sneha spends several years in Washington, D.C., during which time she dates Marina for a while before breaking up with her. After getting word that Amit and Emily are engaged to one another and intend to celebrate their wedding in Milwaukee, Sneha packs some bags and returns to Wisconsin, where she is greeted at the airport by an exuberant Thom and Tig. They bring Sneha to Rion, the communal living home they have established together with Sneha's help, and Sneha finds herself impressed and moved by how successful her friends have been. On the way to the wedding, Sneha, Thom, and Tig are stopped by a police officer for carrying fireworks, which prompts the officer to harass Tig until they accidentally urinate themselves. Tig insists on driving past Amy's house so that Sneha can deliver her revenge, which she does by throwing an antique clock through Amy's window. At the wedding, Sneha receives a phone call from Marina and learns that she has gotten engaged to another woman, but is comforted by her network of friends.