The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Dev, Sonali. The Vibrant Years. Mindy's Book Studio, 2022.

Dev's novel is divided into 31 chapters, each from the perspective of one of the three main characters -- Bindu, Aly, and Cullie. Bookending the novel are two prose poems.

The novel begins with Bindu attending an open house at Shady Palms, a retirement community. Her friend, Debbie, goes with her, but Bindu finds that the people there basically ignore her in favor of her white friend, Debbie. Outside, a man with green eyes named Lee comes out and comforts her, saying that she should move in. Meanwhile, Cullie, Bindu's granddaughter, the creator of a successful anxiety-reducing app called Shloka, has a fight with her ex-boyfriend, Steve. He tells her that the company wants to start charging a subscription for Shloka. Cullie confronts CJ, her boss, and lies and says she is developing a new app as a bargaining chip to try and prevent the subscription-based system from happening.

Aly, Cullie's mother, is a TV news reporter who pitches a Meryl Streep interview to her boss, Joyce. Joyce gives the interview to a white coworker, basically saying that she did it because their audience is more used to a white person than an Indian person. Meanwhile, Bindu has moved in to Shady Palms and is dating Richard there, a famous author. She thinks about the money a man named Oscar left her after his death. She gets an email about someone looking for a woman named Bhanu, and she becomes scared. Afterwards, she cooks for Richard, and as the two have sex after, he dies.

Cullie decides to fly to Florida to see Bindu. She promises CJ she is making a sort of dating app that will help people learn what they want in a partner, even though she has no such plan. Steve meets her, and she learns that Steve was never actually divorced -- he had lied to her about that when they were together. Later, at Bindu's, Aly reflects on her past marriage to Ashish, Bindu's son, and how their divorce was brought about by his lack of support for her career. Meanwhile, the homeowners' association is trying to evict Bindu because of Richard's death, and Bindu receives more emails looking for Bhanu.

They go to meet with Leslie, a man from the HOA who is kindest to Bindu, and learn that the man is Lee. He is the executor of Richard's will, and tells Bindu he is leaving all his money to her; his family, however, wants to investigate if something suspicious happened with his death. After this, the three women decide that Cullie's app should be something that makes other dating apps work better for people. The three women agree to test out the dating apps themselves to gather data. Then, Ashish surprisingly shows up at their door. Ashish moved back to India to work as a sound engineer for concerts. Later, Bindu gets a call from a man named Rishi Seth, who is Oscar's grandson. Bindu had an affair with Oscar long ago. She tells Rishi to stop contacting.

Cullie has a catastrophic date with a veterinarian, but bumps into a man who calls himself Rohan outside Bindu's building; she agrees to help him with some important business. Meanwhile, Aly learns that her boss, Joyce, was married to Richard awhile ago and is aghast at the news that Richard left his money to Bindu, not knowing she is Aly's mother-in-law. Aly goes on a date with an artist; to her embarrassment, Ashish shows up unexpectedly. Bindu goes on a terrible date of her own with a chef. As she escapes the restaurant she was at with him, she sees Leslie and they pretend he is her husband when the chef tries to track down Bindu.

Rohan tells Cullie he is looking for a woman who his grandfather, a famous filmmaker, made a film with long ago so he can make a documentary about her. Bindu thinks about how she cannot be sure if Ashish's father is her ex-husband, Rajendra, or Oscar; Ashish does not know this. Long ago, Rajendra paid off Oscar to stop him from releasing a film Bindu acted in where she had a nude scene. Meanwhile, Lee and Bindu have become romantically involved. On the way to dinner with the family, Rohan comes clean and tells Cullie that he is Rishi Seth and is using her to get to Bindu; however, he also says he has genuine feelings for Cullie. She kicks him out.

Aly and Ashish have started being romantic with one another again, and Aly learns she likely will be able to interview Meryl Streep after all. However, Joyce finds out that she is related to Bindu, and pulls the segment. Aly and Ashish talk about the possibility of getting back together when Cullie appears, sobbing because of what she has learned about Rishi. Bindu tells everyone about her relationship with Oscar, and Ashish tells her that Rajendra had a paternity test done, conclusively learning that Rajendra was his father -- he had kept this from Bindu. After, Cullie and Bindu go to Rishi's house, and Bindu refuses to make the documentary with him. He gives her some old documents and stills from Oscar, and Bindu leaves. Rishi and Cullie make up.

Aly and her friend, Radha, plan on suing Joyce for discrimination. Meanwhile, she and Ashish decide to take things slow as they think about being in a relationship again. Rishi and Cullie are back together. Rishi tells Aly he knows Meryl Streep, and texts her about the situation at the station. Bindu decides to watch the film, called Poornima, that Rishi brought her. She reads the letter from Oscar that Rishi gave her. She ended up giving Richard's money to the HOA secretary who seemed to be very fond of him. Lee comes over and she tells him everything. She calls Cullie and Rishi and agrees to make the documentary.