NOTE: Page numbers refer to the Kindle edition of the novel published by Simon and Schuster.

In The Luckiest Girl Alive, a novel by Jessica Knoll, TifAni “Ani” FaNelli had carefully created a new persona in order to participate in a documentary about her high school. As Ani prepared for the documentary and relived the trauma of her freshman year of high school, she began to realize some parts of her life were not best for her even though they seemed perfect on the surface. This novel tells the story of one woman’s survival of two traumatic events and her struggle to accept herself in the aftermath of those traumas. Themes in the novel include the belief that protection can be found in success, the connection between food and emotions, and the devastating nature of invisible,emotional wounds.

Ani, the novel's main character and narrator, tells about personal experiences at The Bradley School in the fall of her freshman year, the events leading up to her marriage to Luke Harrison, and her participation in a documentary about the school. These intertwining stories are told in the past tense. One chapter details high school experiences, while the next chapter tells about some part of Ani’s adult life. There are a few scattered places in the novel where the tense switches from past to present tense for Ani to give the reader insight into certain aspects of her life from her vantage point after the events described in the novel were finished.

As a new student at the affluent Bradley School, Ani wanted to be part of the popular crowd. When she was invited to a party by Dean, an older boy who was on the soccer team, she thought her dream was coming true. At the party, the boys ( Peyton, Liam, and Dean) got her drunk and sexually assaulted her. Still, Ani struggled to be accepted by the in crowd. A teacher heard rumors about the assault against Ani and tried to get her to report the rape. Ani would not do so. Dean was called into the office and asked to tell about what had happened. Dean thought Ani had told on him, and he threw Ani out of the cool group. Ani struck up a friendship with Arthur, a boy who was very intelligent but was also an outcast.

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Ani shares her adulthood through details about her engagement and approaching marriage to Luke Harrison, a rich boy from an affluent family. Ani believed that with Luke as her fiancé she would have the courage to participate in a documentary about her time at Bradley. As Ani’s life progressed, she realized that Luke was not the perfect person she once believed him to be. Not only did he not believe Dean had raped Ani, he did not think that Ani needed the healing that participation in the documentary would bring. With the help of her old English teacher (a man who had believed Ani’s story about the rape even when she was still in high school) and her best friend Nell, Ani realized getting married to Luke was not the answer to all of her problems.

In a twist, the reader learns that Ani had been asked to participate in a documentary about a shooting at The Bradley School that left seven dead, including the two shooters. Several others were injured. Since Ani had been friends with Arthur, one of the shooters, detectives suspected she was involved in the shootings. Dean fueled their suspicions by telling them that Arthur had handed Ani a gun during the massacre. Furthermore, Arthur had told her to shoot Dean like they had planned. For the documentary, Dean agreed to admit he had made up his accusations against Ani. He apologized to her. Additionally, in a taped conversation with Ani, Dean admitted that he, Liam, and Peyton had raped her.