The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Garber, Stephanie. Caraval. Flatiron Books, New York, 2017. Kindle AZW file.

Scarlett Dragna and her sister, Tella, live in the country of Trisda, a part of the land known as the Conquered Isles. Their father is Governor Dragna, a cruel man who has been out of control ever since Scarlett's mother left them. His punishments are imaginative and brutal. When one of his daughters makes a mistake or steps outside his boundaries, he hands the punishment down to the other. When he catches the two girls in the cellar with a young sailor, the girls argue, each claiming the other was to blame in the hope of taking the punishment for themselves to spare her sister. Scarlett is to marry to a Count. She knows nothing about the man and her father has arranged the marriage, but Scarlett believes him to be kind based on his letters, and he has agreed that Tella can live with them, taking both girls out of their father's reach.

Scarlett grew up hearing her grandmother, Nana, talk about Caraval, a magical game that provides a significant prize for the winner. Scarlett writes to Legend, the man in charge of the game, each year in the hope that she can win and get the prize, but he never responds until a few days before her wedding. She receives three tickets. One is for Scarlett and one for Tella, and Scarlett believes the third is for her fiance. Julian agrees to provide transportation as long as Scarlett will give him one of her three tickets. She wants the prize, which is a wish this year, but she is determined to marry the Count as a safe way to take care of Tella. Julian and Tella knock Scarlett out and take her hostage because they are so determined to reach Caraval.

When Scarlett wakes, she is on a small raft and Julian is rowing. He says Tella is waiting for them on the shore, but the raft sinks and they have to swim in frigid waters. When they reach the beach, Tella is nowhere to be found. They make their way into the edge of Caraval where Scarlett sees the first of many incredibly strange things, including magical clocks and a dress that changes over the coming days to fit her situation and her mood. Scarlett is presented with her first clue of how to win the game and she is horrified to discover that Tella has been taken hostage, and the person who finds her will be this season's winner.

Everyone continues to warn Scarlett that she is playing a game, but she feels there is more to it and that her life – and Tella's – are truly in danger. She is torn about Julian, feeling at times that he is trying to help her and at other times that he is lying about everything. She realizes she is in love with him just a short time before he is killed. When she finds Tella, the situation spirals quickly out of control and Tells plunges from a balcony to her death. Scarlett keeps thinking about the wish, and wants to save Julian, but she knows she will use her wish to save her sister. When she confronts the man she believes to be Legend, she discovers he is actually just an actor named Casper who is pretending to be Legend and she knows the wish is not real.

Casper shows Scarlett a series of letters between Tella and Legend, in which the two make the plan for Tella to become the prize in this year's game. In the letters, Tella assures Legend that Scarlett will save her, and then Tella arrives in the room, alive and well, and offers more explanation. She says she knew their father would never stop trying to find them unless he believed them to be truly out of reach. Scarlett's sole motivation for obeying their father was to keep Tella from being punished. Tella's death set them both free forever.

Scarlett is upset at how far the game went, especially since Julian died, but she learns that Julian is Legend's brother and that all the actors who die during the game are resurrected once the game ends. When Julian and Scarlett meet at the party after the game, Julian assures her he does love her, and Scarlett sees the possibility of a future together. Tella dances alone, wishing she had someone to love her as Scarlett does, when a strong stranger takes her hand, dances a few turns, then disappears. Tella realizes she has something in her pocket and finds a note, telling her that she still owes him a debt for arranging the game, and that she will meet her mother soon.