Great Big Beautiful Life Novel Beat Sheet Analysis
Marilyn Brant
Why we chose to do a Save the Cat!® beat sheet analysis of Great Big Beautiful Life
Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life was one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Year in 2025, garnering over 88K ratings with a 4.3 star average. Her novels are light, fun, humorous, and unapologetically contemporary.
I’m a big fan, and I’m far from alone. Henry’s novels have won five consecutive Goodreads Choice Awards for “Readers’ Favorite Romance”—this book included. They are frequent New York Times bestsellers and popular book club selections. Many of her stories have been picked up for screen adaptations, too, such as People We Meet on Vacation, which was released earlier this year on Netflix.
I had the pleasure of analyzing Henry’s novel Book Lovers for Save the Cat! in April 2023. You can check that out here.
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley, copyright 2025
Pages:
427 hardcover (story 416 pages)
Genre
Buddy Love
These are those “you complete me” stories. A spiritually incomplete hero finds a companion who somehow makes them more whole. Due to a complication, the two struggle to be together in the way they’re meant to be. Buddy Love movies are your love stories, friendship stories, mother/daughter stories, boy-and-their-dog stories.
The 3 elements of a Buddy Love story
1. An incomplete hero who is missing something physical, ethical, or spiritual; (s)he needs another to be whole.
2. A counterpart who makes that completion come about or has qualities the hero needs.
3. A complication, be it a misunderstanding, personal or ethical viewpoint, epic historical event, or the prudish disapproval of society.
From the Publisher
A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.
As featured in The New York Times ∙ Rolling Stone ∙ People ∙ Good Morning America ∙ NPR ∙ Vogue ∙ The Los Angeles Times ∙ The Cut ∙ USA Today ∙ Cosmopolitan ∙ Harper’s Bazaar ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Glamour ∙ ELLE ∙ E! Online ∙ The New York Post ∙ Bustle ∙ Reader’s Digest ∙ BBC ∙ PopSugar ∙ SheReads ∙ Paste ∙ and more!
Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.
Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis for Great Big Beautiful Life
Opening Image (pages 1-3)
Alice Scott, an optimistic albeit lonely celebrity journalist, is struggling to break into the big time. She’ll succeed in doing so if she can score an exclusive biography-writing gig featuring the legendary Margaret Grace Ives, aka “The Tabloid Princess.” The glamorous Margaret is heiress to the Ives Media Empire, but she’s been in hiding for decades.
Telling Margaret’s story would be a dream come true. Alice is about to meet her and couldn’t be more excited and nervous.
Theme Stated (pages 1 & 37)
Quoting famous film producer Robert Evans, the book starts with this sentence: “There’s an old saying about stories, and how there are always three versions of them: yours, mine, and the truth.” This novel is all about Truth. About burying it, shading it to some degree, revealing it, and the line we all walk between fact and fiction.
Alice herself admits to the readers: “I know better than most that you can rarely tell who a person really is, or what they’re going through, just from looking at the surface of things.” Digging deep enough to get at the reality of any given situation—Margaret’s background, Hayden’s emotions, her mother’s beliefs, etc.—is at the core of Alice’s journey.
Certain book chapters even begin with different variations of a story, i.e., a one-line summary of Alice and Hayden’s version of what happened in Margaret’s past versus the longer, detailed, and (sometimes) more honest version that Margaret shares.
Set-Up (pages 4-34)
Alice returns to her home state of Georgia, traveling specifically to Little Crescent Island, where the reclusive heiress has been living. Alice brings with her hope… and a host of insecurities.
Since the death of her dad, she hasn’t felt she truly belongs in her family. Her sister made the more “important” career choice and is most like their mom. Alice doesn’t feel her mother understands or respects her personal drive to be a writer. She’s hurt by her mom’s dismissal of her work and feels isolated, even disliked.
Although Alice realizes there might be competition for getting the memoir assignment, she’s stunned to come face-to-face with Hayden Anderson, a music journalist who’s now a well-known, Pulitzer Prize-winning author. She’s pretty sure she no longer stands a chance of being chosen to write Margaret’s biography with him fighting for the opportunity, too.
Catalyst (pages 34-35)
After Margaret has a meeting with each writer privately, she gets together with both Alice and Hayden and suggests a month-long trial period. They will be paid for their efforts, given a stipend for their housing, made to sign very strict NDAs, and offered time alone with her to conduct interviews.
At the end of the month, they’ll share what they’ve written thus far and, based on what she likes best, she’ll choose the person who’ll get to complete her memoir.
Neither Hayden nor Alice are pleased by this twist.
Debate (pages 35-36)
Hayden, while clearly taken aback by the month-long trial without a definite commitment, still agrees almost at once to Margaret’s conditions.
Alice has more of an internal struggle. She wrestles with her insecurities, given what she knows about Hayden’s writing talent, but even though she’s scared, she can’t walk away from taking her shot. She would do anything to be in the running for this opportunity. If she’s the one who’s chosen, Alice is sure it would change her life. So she says, “I’m in.”
Break into Two (pages 36-44)
Both Alice and Hayden leave Margaret’s place and head back to where they’re lodging, which turns out to be next door to each other at a nearby resort. Initially, at least, they’ll be closer together than either expected.
They set up a schedule that details which days of the week they’ll each have with the heiress and prepare to enter the upside-down world of Margaret Grace Ives.
B Story (page 63)
Alice and Hayden’s rivalry for the memoir assignment and their burgeoning romance is paired with the real story of Margaret’s life.
There’s what the media knows, what actually happened, and what Margaret will admit to—including some things she might tell one of the writers but not the other.
The mysteries and scandals surrounding the Ives family go far deeper than Alice and Hayden suspect. Margaret’s parents, grandparents, sister, famous rockstar husband, and various relations and acquaintances all play roles in what’s been leaked to the press, deeply hidden, or carefully shaped by publicists. Their public image has been wild and theatrical, sparking headlines throughout the years, but the truth may be even more dramatic.
Fun and Games (pages 44-201)
The promise of the premise is in full swing.
While Alice is interviewing Margaret and gathering juicy details about her marriage to rock icon Cosmo Sinclair (aka “the Poor Man’s Elvis”), her cult-joining sister Laura, and her famous family, Hayden is having his own private interactions with the clever heiress and collecting a separate set of stories. Neither writer can discuss these findings with the other for fear of violating their ironclad NDAs, but they’re not above giving a few hints.
Meanwhile, Alice and Hayden’s bantering, flirting, and growing attempts at “distracting” each other lead to genuine fondness, friendship, and actual kissing. Their attraction is mutual and undeniable. Unfortunately, it’s also ill-advised, given the nature of this writing competition.
Midpoint (pages 201-205)
Alice and Hayden share a moment of true intimacy that deepens their relationship even more than if they’d had sex. (Something they both want also, by the way, but Hayden is insistent that they wait until after Margaret has chosen her biographer.) It’s a genuine connection and the realization that, when they’re together, neither is lonely anymore.
All outward indications are that this will be a fun and exciting night for everyone. A false victory for sure.
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Bad Guys Close In (pages 206-287)
Alice gets deeper into the weeds of Margaret’s life story, which starts out with some happy memories but quickly turns darker. Despite an extremely privileged upbringing, she remembers heated arguments between her parents, which led to their divorce. She reveals other family scandals, such as that her grandfather had a child out of wedlock, and that her overly sensitive sister got drawn into a cult by a political leader. There’s also the car accident that claimed the life of her husband Cosmo, which happened because they were being chased by paparazzi.
Alice had been familiar with some of these events from the tabloids, but Margaret gives her behind-the-scenes access and shares significantly more than what’s been publicly disclosed. Given her wealth and fame, Margaret’s history is overwhelmingly tragic.
In the modern romantic storyline, outside of both writers’ work with Margaret, Hayden accompanies Alice to visit her mom. There’s longstanding tension that Alice feels toward her only remaining parent, and that’s impossible for Hayden to ignore. She admits to him that she thinks her mother loves her only because she’s her daughter. She’s never felt sure her mother loves her just for herself. Hayden doesn’t believe that to be true, but Alice can’t stop how she feels. This is only confirmed by comments her mom makes about her writing career while Alice and Hayden are visiting. Alice has a continued sense of having disappointed her mother, or at least not living up to her full potential in her mom’s eyes.
On the drive back to the island, Hayden presses her to talk about the situation, saying Alice is lying to herself. But she won’t discuss it, which leads to a fight and, then, silence.
Further revelations by Margaret illuminate more hidden family traumas that are about to come to a head in her backstory, including a devastating turn of events involving her younger sister Laura.
Alice still hasn’t spoken with Hayden since they’ve been back, and if that wasn’t enough to worry about, a big tropical storm is hitting the island. No electricity. No internet.
In the middle of the storm, Hayden reappears, scared for her safety. As they wait out the intense weather, he shares some sad details about his own childhood and why being around people who lie and pretend “everything is fine” is particularly painful for him.
All Is Lost (pages 287-290)
Margaret reveals that, in an attempt to get her fearful, antisocial sister Laura out of the house, she had them both wear disguises to attend a Cosmo Sinclair concert.
At first, it seemed to be a success—Laura was finally having fun!—but then, yet another tragedy struck. They get caught in a stampede where they’re both injured, their disguises are lost, the press has a heyday photographing the “socialite Ives sisters” as they’re pulled away by their driver, and they return home to bad news that their dear grandfather had just died.
Laura is inconsolable.
Dark Night of the Soul (pages 290-293)
A literal “dark night” follows as Margaret tries to comfort her sister. However, she soon realizes that, having lost their grandfather (whom Laura considered her “best friend”), would further isolate Laura from the world. There was no one her younger sister trusted and she was now almost totally alone.
The consequences of that night would affect the sisters for decades.
Break into Three (pages 293-298)
In the past, Margaret is sent to deal with the sudden appearance of Cosmo Sinclair at their door—a man Laura is adamant about never seeing again. This, of course, serves to introduce Margaret to her future husband.
In the present, Alice and Hayden, while careful not to divulge anything that might put their NDAs in jeopardy, are both suspecting that their interactions with Margaret are significantly different in focus. Still, while reaching a new level in their relationship with each other, they press onward in their professional lives.
Finale (pages 298-413)
Alice and Hayden continue to interview Margaret separately and work toward the end of the month-long trial period. There’s only about a week left and their romance is getting increasingly more serious.
The full scope of Margaret’s history is coming to light, but there are odd gaps and inconsistencies. Alice learns several things that she believes to be true. About Margaret’s surprise courtship and marriage to Cosmo. Laura’s descent into the cult, which leads to her actually extorting her own family to please the cult leader. Margaret’s rescue of her sister, the aftermath, and their consequent estrangement. The paparazzi chase that causes Margaret and Cosmo’s devastating car accident. And a secret pregnancy that a doctor friend on the island helps her to conceal after her husband’s death.
But, here, the A and B stories cross. Alice pieces together that the secret baby was a little girl named Nicollet, given up for adoption for her own protection. Nicollet is an unusual name, and not-so-coincidentally, it’s the name of Hayden’s mother. Which makes Hayden the biological grandson of Margaret Ives.
It turns out, Margaret orchestrated this faux biography contest as a way to get to know her grandchild, but she refuses to share this reality with Hayden.
The repercussions are immediate. Alice can’t tell him the truth herself because of the NDA, but neither can she be with him romantically and lie to him about something so important. It would destroy him and whatever trust they’d built with each other. This makes her both unwilling to continue with the memoir project (even after she learns that Hayden dropped out so Alice would “win” the contest) and unable to stay in a relationship with the man she’s come to love.
Alice tells Margaret goodbye, leaves the island, and retreats to her mom’s house.
She does, however, take Hayden’s words to heart about not lying to herself. She works on talking more openly about her feelings to her mother, and this improves their relationship. She also writes a passionate letter to Margaret, urging her to share the true family history with Hayden.
The strength of Alice’s letter—and her clear love for her grandson—make Margaret reconsider. The heiress sends a message to Hayden, confessing it all, and she includes Alice’s letter with it. The result is that Hayden shows up at Alice’s door, and the two are finally able to profess their love and be together at last.
Final Image (page 414-416)
In the final pages, Alice and Hayden are living happily in Georgia. They worked together on writing Margaret’s memoir, judiciously choosing which details should or shouldn’t be included, and they joined forces on another project as well: becoming new parents.
In honor of Margaret’s sister, they named their baby daughter Laura and welcomed her into this “great big beautiful life.”
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