The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Napolitano, Ann. Hello Beautiful. The Dial Press, 2023.

Ann Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful is written from the third-person point of view; she includes the perspectives of Julia, William, Sylvie, and Alice. Napolitano utilizes the past tense throughout the narrative.

The novel begins by describing the childhood of William Waters. William had an older sister, Caroline, who died just after his birth. William’s parents become distant and cold towards their son. William excels at basketball and earns a scholarship to Northwestern University. There, he befriends Kent, a fellow basketball player. William begins dating the ambitious and energetic Julia Padavano, who comes from a large family in Pilsen.

Napolitano describes the Padavano family, which includes four sisters: the eldest, Julia; the bookish Sylvie; the artistic Cecelia; and the caring Emeline. Julia’s mother, Rose, is a stubborn and forceful woman, while Rose’s husband, Charlie, is kind and somewhat unambitious. Julia plans her life with William; knowing that he is writing a history of basketball, she encourages him to become a professor. William, whose parents no longer speak to him, quickly grows close with the Padavanos. In his final basketball season, William seriously injures his knee. Just after graduation, he marries Julia. William’s parents send him a check for ten thousand dollars, which he does not deposit.

Sylvie works at the local library and sometimes kisses random boys in the stacks; she craves a great, all-consuming romance. On the day of Julia and William’s wedding, Cecelia tells Sylvie that she is pregnant.

William enters a graduate program in history at Northwestern. Rose disowns Cecelia after learning of her pregnancy; Cecelia moves in with a neighbor, and Emeline comes to stay with her. Julia quickly commits to having her own child, and soon becomes pregnant. Cecelia gives birth to a daughter, Izzy. Charlie visits his granddaughter and, immediately thereafter, collapses and dies in the hospital hallway. In the wake of her father’s death, Sylvie recalls him telling her that they share an openness to the world. Wishing to be alone, Rose tells Sylvie to stay with one of her sisters. Sylvie moves in with William and Julia; Julia asks Sylvie to read William’s manuscript. Sylvie discovers that William’s writing contains footnotes expressing spiritual confusion and a deep unhappiness. She recognizes this same vulnerability in herself. Rose announces that she will sell their family home and move to Florida.

William, feeling distant from his life with Julia, begins assisting the Northwestern basketball team with physiotherapy. One night, he and Sylvie share a connective moment on a bench. Sylvie soon finds a place of her own. Julia accompanies Rose to the airport; Julia goes into labor and gives birth to a daughter, Alice. As a mother, Julia suddenly appreciates her own power and independence. Sylvie has sex for the first time. Julia calls her the following morning and informs her that William has left her.

Napolitano describes William’s declining mental health. When Julia learns that William has missed many of his classes, he gives her the check from his parents, states that their marriage is over, and leaves the home. William wanders through Chicago and contemplates suicide. Eventually, he attempts to drown himself in Lake Michigan. Sylvie grows worried about William and, along with Kent, searches for her brother-in-law. After medical personnel pull William from the Lake, Sylvie claims to be his wife and stays by his bedside.

During William’s hospitalization, Julia refuses to visit him. William enters a psychiatric hospital, where Sylvie continues to spend time with him. He confirms to Sylvie that his marriage is over and that he wants to legally give up Alice. He also tells Sylvie about Caroline, his long-dead sister. Julia finds a job as an organizational psychologist in New York; she and Alice soon leave Chicago. In a conversation with Cecelia and Sylvie, Emeline tells them that she is a lesbian and wants to pursue a relationship with her co-worker, Josie. William leaves the hospital and moves into university housing at Northwestern, where he continues to assist with the basketball team.

With Julia in New York, the Padavano sisters continue to care for William. Sylvie’s desire for him blossoms, as does William’s interest in her. On Christmas Day 1983, they kiss for the first time. They quickly express their deep love for one another. When William tells Kent about the romance, his friend encourages him to tell others. Knowing that Julia will be heartbroken, Cecelia and Emeline feel some sadness but believe that Sylvie had no choice in falling in love with William.

Julia becomes highly successful in New York. She misses her sisters but prioritizes her own independence. Emeline visits her and tells that Sylvie and William have fallen in love; Julia eventually cuts off contact with her sisters. In Chicago, William and Sylvie move in together and eventually marry.

When Alice is five years old, Julia tells her that her father died in a car accident. Alice begins to worry, knowing that Julia is her only source of love and support. She asks her grandmother about her aunts but learns very little.

In Chicago, Emeline, Josie, Cecelia, and Izzy purchase neighboring houses and form an unusual, enormous home. Williams works as head physiotherapist for the Chicago Bulls. Sylvie writes stories from her childhood. Emeline and Josie begin to foster babies.

By the time she reaches high school, Alice is six foot one. Hoping to preserve her emotional safety, she remains relatively closed-off from the world. Julia often worries about her daughter and, when Alice begins college in Boston, encourages her to live more boldly. Alice finds photographs of Cecelia’s paintings and murals online. In 2008, Sylvie learns that she has terminal cancer. William knows that Sylvie profoundly misses Julia, to whom she hasn’t spoken in decades. William calls his ex-wife and tells her about Sylvie’s illness; Julia—without William or her other sisters’ knowledge—flies to Chicago and spends time with Sylvie.

William asks Cecelia to paint Caroline. He begins to accept the widespread presence of love in his life, and reckons with his own familial trauma. In New York, Julia tells Alice that William is not dead and, in reality, is married to Sylvie. Alice is furious at her mother; with her best friend Carrie’s help, Alice researches her family in Chicago and, eventually, flies to meet them. On the same day that Alice lands in Chicago, Sylvie suddenly dies. To her surprise, Alice immediately feels close with her aunts and cousin. Rose and Julia both arrive in Chicago. Julia gives Alice Sylvie’s manuscript. At the end of the novel, Alice and William speak to one another for the first time. William tells his daughter that he wants to be in her life.