The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Bertino, Marie-Helene. Beautyland. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024.

Marie-Helene Bertino's novel Beautyland is set in Philadelphia and New York City, and spans decades of time. The novel begins in 1977, the year the protagonist Adina Giorno is born, and traces Adina's life from childhood, through adulthood, and death. The novel is written in the present tense, from the third person point of view, and in a fragmented narrative form. For the sake of clarity, the following summary abides by a more linear mode of explanation.

Térèse Giorno gives birth to her daughter Adina Giorno on September 5, 1977. On the same day, Voyager 1 is launched into space. After Térèse recovers from her labor, she and Adina return home to their apartment in Northeast Philadelphia. Not long later, Adina's father leaves the family and Térèse raises Adina on her own. She struggles to support Adina throughout her childhood, and works multiple jobs in order to cover their expenses.

Meanwhile, Adina becomes convinced that she is an alien. She thinks that she originates from Planet Cricket Rice, and that her superiors have sent her to Earth in order to study and report on human behaviors. After Térèse recovers and abandons an old fax machine from the neighbor's trash, Adina adopts it as her own and uses it her for her private intergalactic project. She writes regular notes on her experiences and faxes them to her space superiors. She receives responses to the faxes, convincing Adina that she is fulfilling her appointed mission.

In fourth grade, Adina meets her new classmate Toni. She and Toni become fast friends. Adina also develops a connection with Toni's brother Dominic. However, Adina still feels lonely and excluded. The popular crowd at school does not accept her, and often bullies her for being different.

The summer after eighth grade, the popular girls invite Adina to join their dance troupe. On the night of the dance, a classmate named Amadeo makes sexual advances towards Adina. When Adina laughs to hide her discomfort, Amadeo is irate. He slanders Adina to their peers and they kick her out of the troupe.

Adina and Toni attend a private high school on scholarship. Adina struggles to fit in in this environment, too. Meanwhile, Toni makes friends with another girl named Audrey and Adina tries to invest in the school play to hide her jealousy. She and Toni drift apart, because Adina will not tell Toni the reason for writing her notes. Once she finally reveals that she is an alien, Toni believes her and encourages her to keep writing.

After graduation, Adina's friends move away for college. Adina continues living at home and starts waitressing at a local diner. Realizing her unhappiness, she quits her job and moves to New York City.

Adina creates a life for herself in New York. She rents a small apartment, gets a receptionist job, adopts a dog named Butternut, and continues writing and sending faxes. Eventually, she and Toni reconnect and rekindle their friendship. Toni urges Adina to compile her notes into a manuscript and to submit them to the publishing company where she works. Toni's editor offers to publish the manuscript as a chapbook.

Adina's memoir receives polarizing reviews. Some people love her work and believe she is an alien, while others think she is mentally unwell and a liar. Adina ignores the reception and temporarily sets aside writing. Meanwhile, Toni gets sick with cancer and begins undergoing treatment. Adina remains loyal to her throughout her illness and chemotherapy, but Toni's body eventually stops responding to treatment. Shortly before Toni dies, Butternut dies unexpectedly one night, too.

Adina grieves Toni and Butternut for months and years. She realizes that Toni and Butternut were the great loves of her life, and that she is more lonely than ever without them. Meanwhile, she stops receiving messages from her superiors and realizes that no one is coming to deliver her from Earth. As she prepares for her death, she reflects on her experiences.