The following version was used to create this guide: Menon, Sandhya. When Dimple met Rishi. New York: Simon Pulse, 2017. The novel is broken into 56 chapters, told from both Dimple and Rishi’s third person perspectives intermittently. For the purposes of this guide, the novel is broken into 8 sections.

Chapter 1 and 2 start with Dimple trying and succeeding in talking her parents into letting her attend Insomnia Con, a web development summer program for high schoolers. In Chapter 3, Rishi agrees to attend Insomnia Con, with his parents' encouragement, to meet Dimple to whom he has been potentially arranged to marry. In Chapter 4, Rishi walks up to Dimple at SFSU and says “hello future wife” to which she responds by throwing coffee at him and running away (25). In Chapter 5, Rishi explains to Dimple who he is, and Dimple realizes she has been unknowingly set up by her parents. In Chapter 6, Rishi and Dimple meet Celia, Dimple’s roommate and they discuss their situation. In Chapter 7 Dimple tells her parents she does not want to marry Rishi, and they are understanding and tell her to win the Insomnia Con competition.

In Chapter 8, Dimple starts class and learns that the winner of Insomnia Con will meet with Jenny Lindt and work with her. In Chapter 9, the teacher announces that Dimple and Rishi will be partners for the summer. In Chapter 10 and 11, they walk around campus doing a fun assignment together. In Chapter 12, they return to class and receive praise for their mini-project. In Chapter 13, Celia invites Dimple to go to dinner with her and her friends whom Rishi calls the “Aberzombies,” and they discuss their app design ideas (86). In Chapter 14, they walk to the restaurant together, and Rishi tells a server he wants to pay for everyone anonymously.

Chapter 15 is an uncomfortable dinner while Rishi, Dimple, and the Aberzombies talk about Insomnia Con and their heritage. In Chapter 16, the waiter tells them someone paid anonymously, and Dimple and Rishi leave the restaurant after finishing dessert. In Chapter 17, Rishi and Dimple walk back to their dorm and talk about their upbringing. In Chapter 18, Dimple’s mother calls her and agrees Dimple can take her time making her own life decisions. In Chapters 19 and 20, Dimple and Rishi work together on their app project. In Chapter 21, Dimple and Rishi walk together to Little Comic Con, both dressed as comic characters. In Chapter 22, they arrive at the event and Rishi sees Leo Tilden, and Dimple pushes Rishi to meet him.

In Chapter 23, Rishi meets Leo Tilden but downplays his own artistic talent. In Chapters 24 - 26, they attend a party together, where Rishi participates in a sketch-off and afterwards shows Dimple his sketchpad. In Chapter 27, they realize they met as little kids, Rishi once handing Dimple a paper flower at a wedding. In Chapter 28, Dimple kisses Rishi. In Chapters 29 and 30, they plan and prepare for their first “non-date” together (185). In Chapters 31 - 34, Rishi and Dimple go on their first non-date together at a bookstore restaurant that Rishi picks out. By the end of their non-date Dimple asks to make it an official date and kisses Rishi again. In Chapters 35 and 36, they are still on their date, and Rishi sketches Dimple. In Chapter 37 they learn there will be a talent show with a significant prize and decide to do a Bollywood dance. In Chapter 38, they practice the dance, and at the end of the chapter Rishi’s brother Ashish walks in on them in Rishi’s room in a pile on the floor. In Chapter 39, Dimple meets Ashish for the first time, as Rishi calls their parents.

In Chapters 40 and 41, Ashish and Rishi fight, and Dimple mediates, asking Ashish for help with their dance. In Chapter 42, Dimple secretly sends an email to Leo Tilden with Rishi’s sketches and she, Rishi, and Ashish walk to dinner. In Chapter 43, they walk to dinner and agree to keep their relationship going long distance. In Chapter 44, Celia joins them but everyone finds out that she and Ashish had hooked up, and they leave dinner to talk. In Chapter 45, they start to talk about having sex, and in Chapter 46 they do.

In Chapter 47, Celia and Dimple get in a fight and Dimple advises Ashish against hoping something will work out with Celia. In Chapter 48 they prepare for the talent show backstage. In Chapter 49, they say “I love you” to each other, and perform their dance. In Chapter 50, Rishi apologizes to Ashish for being hard on him, and Celia abandons the Aberzombies on stage. In Chapter 51, Ashish and Rishi get in a fight with Evan and Hari, and later Dimple and Rishi learn they won the talent show. In Chapter 52, the judges announce the winners of Insomnia Con, and it is Evan, Hari, and Isabelle and Dimple is crushed. In Chapter 53, Dimple is upset, avoiding everyone. In Chapter 54, Rishi takes Dimple to meet Jenny Lindt who offers to help with her app.

In Chapter 55, Dimple breaks up with RIshi. In Chapter 56, both Rishi and Dimple have returned home, and they both prepare for college. Dimple confronts her mother and her mother says she will love her no matter what. Rishi tells his father he does not want to go to MIT and pursue engineering. As they both head to college, both Rishi and Dimple try to look for each other, Dimple going to the airport and Rishi going to Stanford. Both frustrated, they go to the Starbucks at SFSU where they first met and run into each other. They both apologize and thank the other for what they have done (Dimple emailing Leo Tilden, Rishi connecting Dimple and Jenny Lindt). The book ends with them reuniting, deciding to get back together, and kissing.