The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Escandón, María Amparo. L.A. Weather. Flatiron Books, 2021.

María Amparo Escandón's novel L.A. Weather is written from the third person point of view and in the past tense. The novel is divided into 12 sections, each titled with a month of the year. The following summary employs a linear form, and uses the present tense.

In January of 2016, Keila Alvarado becomes frustrated with her husband Oscar's constant distraction. Instead of engaging with his family, he spends all of his time watching the Weather Channel. Keila becomes especially disgusted when their twin granddaughters, Diana and Andrea, almost drown on their watch. Oscar does not even notice the family has rushed the twins to the hospital until the next morning.

Shortly thereafter, Keila tells her daughters, Claudia, Olivia, and Patricia, that she plans on divorcing their father. They beg her to give the marriage at least a year before giving up. Keila and Oscar agree. One bad couples therapy session only frustrates Oscar, and he largely stops trying to fix his marital problems.

Oscar's main concerns are with his secret property, Happy Crunch Almond Orchard. He bought the land years prior, but never told his wife and daughters about it. Now that California is suffering from one of the worst droughts in history, Oscar is worried he will lose his crop.

Meanwhile, Olivia realizes that her marriage to Felix is not working. Felix is either absent or angry. She wonders if she ever should have pushed him to conceive via in-vitro fertilization. She loves her girls, but is worried that their household is not a happy one. Then one day, Felix demands that Olivia destroy the last remaining embryos they have frozen at the fertility lab. Olivia takes this as a sign that she should get a divorce. Over the following months, a difficult divorce battle ensues. Eventually Olivia gets custody of her daughters, but has to agree to split the profits from their house with Felix, and to destroy the embryos.

Amidst Olivia's conflict, the family learns that Claudia has a brain tumor after she collapses one day at a family gathering. Once she finally gets out of surgery and awakens from her coma, Claudia tells her family that she wants to divorce her husband Gabriel. He has been cheating on her. The family supports her decision, and cares for her during her recovery process.

Patricia is worrying about her marriage to Eric, too. She is unsure he can give her and her son, Daniel, what they really want and need. After she and Olivia decide to steal the embryos from the lab and implant them into Patricia's womb, Patricia decides to divorce Eric. She and Olivia will raise all of the children together.

Oscar finally decides to tell Keila and his daughters about the orchard. Instead of chastising him, they support and comfort him. Finally Keila decides to sell her parents' property in Mexico, and use the money to convert Happy Crunch into Happy Sunshine Fields. She and Oscar then begin farming solar energy.

In December, the family celebrates Christmas together. They all reflect upon everything they have experienced throughout the year. When Keila says she has to have a lump in her breast examined, the family joins together in love and support.