Evelyn Hugo, a movie star of the 1960s and 1970s, is now 79 years old. As she prepares to sell 12 of her most famous dresses at auction, she reaches out to Vivant, a prominent magazine, to request an interview with one of its reporters, Monique Grant. Neither Monique nor her editor, Frankie, can work out why Evelyn requested to speak to Monique, a lower-ranked reporter. Monique leaps at the opportunity to distract herself from her separation from David, her husband. She throws herself into researching Evelyn’s life, most notably her seven husbands, and ends up with one burning question: “Who was the love of Evelyn’s life?”
When Monique arrives at Evelyn’s apartment for the interview, Evelyn soon tells her that, instead of an interview for Vivant, she wants Monique to write her biography and sell it after Evelyn’s death. Though Monique presses her for more details, Evelyn only tells her that she’ll understand everything once the interview is over. Monique begins interviewing Evelyn daily, starting with the subject of Evelyn’s first husband. From there, the novel jumps back and forth between Evelyn’s past and Monique’s present.
When Evelyn is just 15 years old, she marries Ernie Diaz, a man in her Hell’s Kitchen apartment building, because she knows he’s moving to Hollywood, and she can escape with him. She has no intention to be Ernie’s housewife, however, and instead spends every day at a diner where she attempts to attract the attention of producers. Eventually, a young producer, Harry Cameron, notices her and signs her to Sunset Studios. After struggling to land roles that offer her more than one line of dialogue, Evelyn eventually exerts enough influence at Sunset Studios to convince Harry and Ari Sullivan, another producer, to cast her as Jo in an adaptation of Little Women. To appeal to the widest possible American audience (Evelyn is Latina), Evelyn transforms her appearance by dyeing her hair blond, changing her name, and divorcing Ernie. Evelyn stars in a few generic romantic comedies and falls in love with and marries Don Adler. But a few weeks after their wedding, Don begins to physically abuse Evelyn.
Meanwhile, in the present, Monique receives a package from Monique’s mother: a box of Monique’s father’s photographs from his days working on movie sets (Monique’s father died when she was a young girl). Monique reflects on the challenges of her parents’ biracial marriage and her father’s advice to find a job she loves.
Evelyn’s history picks up on the set of Little Women, which has finally started shooting. Evelyn and her co-star Celia St. James strike up a mutually beneficial relationship: Evelyn will help Celia get noticed around town, and in return, Celia will give Evelyn acting lessons. A tabloid article spreads the rumor that Evelyn would rather spend time with celebrities like Celia than start a family with Don. When Evelyn realizes the story came from her maid, Paula, she fires Paula and plants a false story about having a miscarriage to restore her image through public sympathy.
At the premiere of Little Women, Evelyn realizes Celia’s performance has overshadowed everyone else’s, but she’s happy, not jealous. At the afterparty, Evelyn’s friend Ruby tells her that Celia is a lesbian and that Don is cheating on Evelyn. When Evelyn sees Celia, she kisses her. After she finds Don with another woman in a bedroom at the party, she asks Harry to take her home. Harry takes Evelyn to his house, and the next day, she returns home to see that Don has already left.
Evelyn stays with Celia, where Harry delivers her the divorce papers from Don. The papers stipulate that, though Evelyn will keep the house and half of her and Don’s money, she’s not allowed to discuss their marriage with the media. In addition, Sunset Studios will drop Evelyn and blackball her from an Oscar nod. Later, Evelyn and Celia have sex for the first time.
Celia attends the Academy Awards while Evelyn watches on the TV. When Celia wins the Oscar for best supporting actress, Evelyn kisses the TV and chips her tooth. After the Hollywood studios lose interest in Evelyn, she meets French director Max Girard, who casts her in a movie called Boute-en-Train; the films features a topless shot of her. The movie’s release turns Evelyn into an international sensation. Meanwhile, to quash rumors about her close relationship with Celia, Evelyn elopes with popstar Mick Riva. Evelyn has sex with Riva to seduce him, but the couple annuls their marriage the next morning. Later, Evelyn discovers she’s pregnant. Celia, who didn’t realize Evelyn was willing to go as far as sex to ensure a successful elopement, breaks up with her.
Evelyn marries Rex North to generate interest in Anna Karenina, the adaptation they are starring in together. After a few years of marriage, Rex tells Evelyn he’s in love with someone else and needs to divorce Evelyn. Evelyn stages a false affair with Harry, who is gay. When both Evelyn and Celia lose in the same category of the Oscars that year, they find each other in the bathroom and forgive each other. Evelyn marries Harry and moves to Manhattan with him, allowing her and Celia, as well as Harry and Celia’s husband John (who is also gay, and seeing Harry), to live out their secret relationships under the cover of heterosexual marriages.
When Evelyn turns 36, she realizes her marriage with Harry is the longest of all her marriages. She and Harry agree to have a baby together, and Evelyn gets Celia’s consent. A year later, Evelyn and Harry have a daughter, Connor. Celia encourages Evelyn to film another movie with Max. Evelyn will have to act alongside Don in the movie, so she meets with him to make peace. Max convinces Evelyn to film an explicit sex scene, which Evelyn agrees to and shoots without asking Celia. When she tells Celia about the scene, Celia leaves her and files for divorce from John. A few years later, John dies of a heart attack. To distract Harry from his grief, she convinces him to produce Max’s next film, which she’ll also star in. After she, Harry, and Max all win Oscars for the film, Max asks Evelyn to marry him.
Meanwhile, in present-day New York, Monique arrives at her apartment after a day of writing to find David waiting there for her. He asks her to keep working at their marriage, but she tells him the relationship is over.
Evelyn’s history picks back up the day after her Oscar win. She and Harry agree to get a divorce. Evelyn marries Max, who she soon realizes is more interested in her beauty and celebrity status than her real personality. Evelyn begins to exchange letters with Celia. Eventually, Celia agrees to meet Evelyn and tells her she’s dying of a pulmonary disease. The two rekindle their relationship. Evelyn divorces Max and tries to convince Harry to move to Spain with her and Celia, but Harry suggests they move to LA instead, where he’s found someone he wants to have a future with. Later that evening, Evelyn finds Harry unconscious in a crashed car with a dead passenger beside him. Harry dies after Evelyn takes him to the hospital.
Six months after Harry’s death, Connor’s unruly behavior gains press attention, and Evelyn knows she has to get Connor out of town. Evelyn and Connor move to Spain with Celia and Celia’s brother, Robert, who becomes Evelyn’s seventh husband. In Spain, Connor refocuses on her schoolwork while bonding with Robert. Meanwhile, Celia’s health deteriorates, and she dies a few years later.
Evelyn and Robert move back to New York City where Evelyn spends her time fundraising. Robert dies 11 years later. Connor is diagnosed with breast cancer and dies at age 41. Evelyn realizes that people will only understand the whole truth of her story, particularly her romantic relationship with Celia, if she tells the story herself, in the form of this biography. She asks Monique to emphasize that she no longer cares about wealth or celebrity—she just wants to be with the people she loves.
Finally, Evelyn reveals to Monique that the passenger who died in the car crash with Harry was James Grant, Monique’s father. She gives Monique the letter that Monique’s father wrote to Harry, explaining that he could never leave Monique or Monique’s mother, even though he loved Harry. Monique, enraged, asks Evelyn when she can publish the book—in other words, when Evelyn will die. Evelyn reveals she has late-stage breast cancer.
Monique returns to Evelyn’s apartment the next morning for a cover shoot for Vivant’s article about Evelyn. After the photographers leave, Evelyn says goodbye to Monique, and Monique understands that Evelyn has chosen to die on her own terms, and that she’s saying goodbye forever. Evelyn dies soon after, and Vivant publishes an article by Monique which reveals Evelyn’s bisexuality and includes an excerpt from her upcoming biography.
