The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Abbott, Megan. The Turnout. Penguin Random House LLC, 2021.

Megan Abbott's novel The Turnout is written from the third person point of view and in the past tense. The novel's largely linear structure is nuanced by passages of flashback and fragmentation. The following summary employs the present tense, and a traditional linear structure.

Twin sisters Dara and Marie Durant grow up in an old Victorian home with their mother and father. Their father is an electrician and their mother is a renowned ballerina. After her dance career ends, she opens up a school, The Durant School of Dance. She teaches her daughters at home, and establishes ballet as a central part of their lives and identities.

One year, one of her favorite students, Charlie, comes to live with the Durants. The family's already complicated dynamics intensify. Mrs. Durant uses Charlie for sexual favors, and forces the boy and her daughters into twisted sexual games. She and her husband are also constantly drunk and fighting. On the night of their twentieth wedding anniversary, the sisters' parents get into a fatal car crash. The sisters inherit the dance school.

Over 12 years later, Dara, Marie, and Charlie are running the school together. Dara and Charlie are now married, and living in the family home with Marie. Feeling frustrated with Dara and Charlie and their claustrophobic life, Marie moves out of the house and into the attic of the dance school, where their mother once spent time. Then one night, she accidentally lights Studio B on fire.

The three characters hire a contractor named Derek to handle the repairs. Over the course of the following weeks, Derek's constant presence at the school becomes increasingly uncomfortable. He unnerves Dara. She becomes even more upset by him when she discovers that he and Marie are having an affair. When she confronts Marie about the issue, Marie shamelessly describes how it began, and all of the things they do together. Meanwhile, Dara tries to focus on preparing for the school's upcoming Nutcracker performance. No matter what she does, however, she remains distracted and anxious.

Soon, Derek becomes obsessed with the Durant family home. Dara worries that he will try to take the house from them. She soon receives confirmation for her suspicions. One night, she comes home to find Derek inside the house, snooping around. He accuses Dara and her family of having incestuous relations, and leaves. Shortly thereafter, Dara and Charlie decide they must stop him. They race to the studio, where the four characters engage in a violent argument. When Derek makes more upsetting comments, Charlie pushes him down the stairs to his death.

Charlie and the sisters report the death as an accident. Dara hopes everything will now return to normal. However, when she discovers that Charlie has been involved with Derek's widow, she realizes nothing will ever be the same. The morning after Dara kicks him out of the house, Charlie hangs himself in the studio attic.

In the weeks following, the sisters do their best to heal. They also confront the traumas of their past. One night, Marie lights the family home on fire so as to free herself and Dara from their ugly memories. In the year following, each sister begins pursuing a new and better future for herself.