Pompey is a magazine employee who works for a Sir Phoebus. While on the clock, in her downtime, Pompey decides she will write a novel on yellow paper instead of white paper, because the white paper could be confused with her papers for work. She breaks the fourth wall and tells the reader that this novel is not going to be normal.
She goes to Germany to visit a friend named Karl, but she doesn't like what she sees. When her boyfriend, Freddy, proposes to her upon her return, she panics and says yes, even though she tried to muster the strength to tell Freddy the truth, that she won't marry him. Eventually the dread overwhelms her and she breaks off the engagement.
In various stream of consciousness passages, Pompey details her relationship to religion, her upbringing (especially her aunt) her relationship to Europe, the rise and fall of the Nazi party there. During the time she stays engaged to Freddy, she contemplates marriage, romance, and true love.
