The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Walls, Jeannette. Hang the Moon. Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2023.

Jeannette Walls's novel Hang the Moon is set in Prohibition era Virginia. The novel is told from the protagonist Sallie Kincaid's first person point of view, and primarily written in the present tense. The following summary abides by a similar structure as the novel itself.

When Sallie Kincaid is eight years old, she is living in Caywood, Virginia with her father the Duke, her stepmother Jane, and her half brother Eddie. Sallie's mother Annie died when Sallie was just three years old. She therefore has few memories of her. Although Sallie is a good-natured child, because Annie had a tenuous reputation in Claiborne County, Jane disdains Sallie. Therefore, when Sallie and Eddie get into an accident on Sallie's wagon and Eddie is injured, Jane blames Sallie. Convinced that Sallie is trying to kill her son, Jane demands that the Duke send her away. Instead of defending his daughter, the Duke dismisses Sallie from the Kincaid estate, known as the Big House, and sends her to live with her mother's sister Faye in the mountain town of Hatfield.

Nine years later, Sallie is 17 years old and has no expectation of ever returning to the Big House again. Then one day, the Duke's employee and her childhood friend Tom Dunbar appears at her aunt Faye's home to collect her. He informs Sallie that Jane is dead and the Duke wants her to attend the wake and funeral.

Shortly after returning to Caywood, Sallie learns that the Duke wants her back at the Big House for good. He charges her with educating Eddie, for whom he has big plans in the future.

Although Jane's death is still fresh, the Duke returns from a trip to Danville not long later with a new wife named Kat. Per Kat's suggestion, the Kincaid family and community take a picnic together. When the group jumps from a trestle into the water, the Duke is killed.

Eddie inherits the Kincaid estate and business. Because he is a minor, however, the Duke's sister Mattie and her husband largely assume control of the Duke's enterprise, Kincaid Holdings. Although Sallie attempts to remain neutral, an accumulating number of family rivalries and dramas complicates her regard for her family members. After Mattie gets a court order for Eddie to come and live with her, effectively tearing him from his home, Eddie commits suicide. Sallie blames herself for failing to care for and protect her half brother.

Another of the Duke's children and Sallie's half siblings, Mary, inherits the family home and business. Mary is the daughter of the Duke's first wife, Belle. Because Mary blames Sallie's mother for ruining her parents' marriage, Mary dislikes Sallie. Throughout her tenure as the head of the family and business, Mary tries to reform the county politically and religiously. Not long later, however, Mary dies of uterine cancer.

In the wake of Mary's death, Sallie inherits everything. Although she is arguably better suited for the role than her predecessors, Sallie feels overwhelmed and confused. After she meets and hires a man named Douglas Rawley, however, she regains her sense of stability and confidence. She and Rawley soon pursue an affair and make plans to elope. Before they can do so, however, Sallie discovers that Rawley has impregnated another of her half sisters, Nell.

After Rawley flees town, shirking his responsibilities to Nell, Sallie's loneliness returns. Then the Big House burns down under mysterious circumstances. While regarding the burnt facade, Sallie suddenly remembers her last conversation with her mother. Annie told Sallie never to forget that she is loved. Sallie has a revelation, and asks Tom to marry her.