Snow White retells the original Snow White fairytale. However, in Barthelme's version, the fairytale is transformed into a dark parody that combines satire, absurdity, and social commentary. The work is also considered postmodern due to its experimentation with form and narrative. The novel is split into small sections that range from one to three pages long. The story is narrated primarily by a first-person narrator, although it switches between using the singular "I" and the plural "we." Both the "I" and the "we" seem to be part of the group of dwarves but it is unclear which one it is, as each dwarf is mentioned and the voice is an eighth participant within the group.
The novel is composed of experimental sections that use a formal structure wholly unlike any traditional novel. Some of them are made up of bolded, capitalized text on a single page. These sections present mantras or single sentences. At the beginning, they are related to the fairytale, listing components of the fairytale or commenting on the characters. However, as the novel progresses, they start to comment on religion, literary history, and sexual desires, presenting these and critiques of those concepts. Other sections are given titles that represent what the section is about—"the reaction to the hair," for example—and are small glances into the actions or thoughts of a single character. There are also letters, a quiz that asks the reader what they think of the novel, and a transcribed phone call. These experimental sections fracture the novel and interrupt the plot.
The novel has a loose central plotline. It is interrupted by the experimental sections outlined above and therefore is often hard to follow. Bill, the leader of the dwarves, has stopped contributing to the dwarves' work and begins to become apathetic towards their work and to Snow White. The dwarves and Snow White share an apartment and their shower, the place that the dwarves want to lure Snow White to show her their attraction after she begins to distance herself from them and consider Paul as her only possible partner. The dwarves have two jobs: tending vats of Chinese baby food and washing buildings. Both of these occupations are absurd and random, but the dwarves are dedicated to them and obsessed with optimizing their output. They plot to overthrow Bill, and at the end, after putting him on trial, hang him for his inability to uphold their standards and expectations. Dan, one of the dwarves, becomes their new leader. Hogo joins the dwarves and tends the vats with them.
At the same time, in a parallel plotline that intersects with the dwarves' plot throughout the novel, Snow White is conflicted about her role as the princess. She is attracted to Paul, the dwarf who is identified as the prince. Paul rejects his role as the prince and is unsure of how to act as a prince, even though he is also attracted to Snow White. He abandons Snow White and the dwarves to become a monk. When he returns, Jane, Snow White's evil stepmother, poisons him mistakenly instead of poisoning Snow White. Jane spends the majority of the novel in a tumultuous relationship with Hogo de Bergerac, a man separate from the dwarves known for his "loathsome" actions. Hogo is aggressive towards Jane and falls in love with Snow White, leaving Jane and professing his love for Snow White. Snow White rejects him and decides to leave her position as the princess in the story. The novel ends with a list of random phrases that loosely summarize the novel and imply that the dwarves are searching for a new story.
