The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Jha, Sonora. The Laughter. HarperCollins, 2023.

Sonora Jha's novel The Laughter is written from the first person point of view of the main character Oliver Harding. Toggling between the narrative past and present, the novel employs multiple tenses and toys with conventional notions of the linear narrative plot line. For the sake of clarity, the following summary abides by a more streamlined mode of explanation and uses the present tense.

Oliver Harding is a cis-gendered, heterosexual, white man living in Seattle, Washington. Ever since his divorce from his ex-wife Emily, Oliver has lived alone with his dog Edgar. Oliver spends the majority of his time teaching English at the local university and working on his G. K. Chesterton writing project.

Everything changes for Oliver when he becomes enamored by his new colleague, an enigmatic and alluring Pakistani Muslim woman named Ruhaba Khan. Oliver's interest in her intrigues even him, as he usually is not attracted to women of color. In spite of the surprising nature of his attraction, Oliver lusts after Ruhaba. His fantasies of having sex with her come to dominate each and every one of their interactions.

When Ruhaba tells Oliver that her nephew Adil Alam is coming to stay with her, Oliver is discomfited. He thinks that the boy is coming from Pakistan and is therefore immediately suspicious of him. When he learns that Adil has in fact moved from France at a department party, Oliver is even more intrigued. He engages Adil at the event, although he finds his behaviors odd and off-putting.

Oliver offers Ruhaba and Adil a ride home from the faculty event. On the drive, Oliver offers to pay Adil to walk his dog. In Adil he sees an opportunity to get close to Ruhaba.

Although Oliver starts to see Adil regularly, he fails to win Ruhaba's affection. He tries to spend as much time with her as he can, but all of his efforts prove insignificant. He wonders if she is trying to quash her feelings for him because of her religion.

When students in the Humanities Department begin protesting the curriculum, Oliver is disgusted. Like his fellow white colleagues, he fears that the changes the students are proposing will strip him of his privilege, relevance, and authority. However, when Oliver realizes that Ruhaba supports the students, he decides to vote in favor of the curriculum amendments.

After Oliver's friend and colleague David Meyer discovers how Oliver voted, he confronts him at his home. Failing to remember that he let Adil stay at his house to escape the campus and community dramas, Oliver launches into an argument with Meyer about Ruhaba. Meyer insists that supporting Ruhaba's cause will not get her to sleep with Oliver. Oliver insists otherwise, promising Meyer that he will sleep with her imminently. Meyer then tells Oliver that Ruhaba is under investigation by the university for having multiple affairs with her students, male and female alike. Oliver is disgusted and shocked, unable to believe what he is hearing.

Oliver confronts Ruhaba at the university library. They start to argue about their relationships with students. They take the argument up to Oliver's office. Oliver demands that Ruhaba sleep with him, threatening to report her and take Adil from her. Ruhaba laughs at Oliver, infuriating him. In a fit of rage, he extracts his gun from his desk and shoots her in the head. Adil was listening the whole time and races into the room when he hears the shot. Oliver throws the gun at him. When the police arrive, Adil is holding the weapon. They shoot him, convinced he is behind Ruhaba's murder.

When the FBI begins investigating Ruhaba's death, they interrogate Oliver. Oliver gives them information to support their suspicions: that Adil, a radicalized Muslim youth, killed his aunt.

Meanwhile, Oliver sets to penning his own account. He tells his reader that he wants to embrace the truth. However, his journaled version of events reveals his real desire to assert power over the narrative and to paint himself as both the victim and the hero of the story.