Orual is the eldest of three daughters. Her father is the king of Gloam, a small country far from Greece. Her youngest sister, Psyche, is inhumanly beautiful while Orual is extremely ugly. Her tutor, the Fox, is a slave from Greece who teachers her philosophy and Greek thought. He is rational and wise. The story is told from Orual's perspective as she reflects upon the events of the past. It is, according to Orual, her complaint against the gods.

Orual was like a mother to Psyche, whose actual mother died after child birth. Her time raising Psyche, and studying with the Fox was the best time of her life. As Psyche grew, however, her beauty became even greater, until the people of Gloam began to worship her and call her a goddess. When a plague tore through Gloam, she went out to lay hands on the sick, but she only spread the sickness further. Redival, the middle sister, went to the holy men of Ungit (a local goddess), and said Psyche was claiming to be a goddess. The Ungit priest came to the King, and told him that in order to appease Ungit, and save Gloam from plague and war, Psyche had to be taken to the holy mountain, and left there for the god.

The king agreed, and Psyche was taken to the mountain where she was chained to the tree for the god (or shadowbrute) to come and take her. She was left there, alone. Sometime later, Orual went with Bardia to retrieve the body and give her a burial. However, when they arrived, Orual found Psyche alive and well, despite the tattered clothes. Psyche claims she lives in a beautiful palace, and has a loving husband, who is a god, but Orual can see none of this. Orual has a quick glance of the palace at one point, but this only makes her more angry at the gods for teasing her.

She eventually convinces Psyche to light a lamp at night (something Cupid had forbidden her from doing) to see her husband. Orual assumes it is either a criminal, or a monster, and either way it will convince Psyche to leave him and return home. Psyche complies, but she is sent away from the mountain in punishment. Orual goes on to become a just and powerful queen, but she continues to feel guilty for what happened to Psyche. One day, she comes across a priest who tells the story of Psyche, Orual, and Cupid, but in the tale the sister purposefully ruined the bride's marriage out of jealousy.

Orual writes her version down to tell the "real story".

In the second part of the book Orual recants her original complaint against the gods, as she relays a series of dreams and visions she has of Psyche performing amazing tasks (as told in the classic myth of Psyche and Cupid). She eventually realizes her love of Psyche was unhealthy, and is (in a vision) reunited with Psyche. She dies, and the details of her death are related by the Priest Arnom.