The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Greyson, Christopher. The Girl Who Lived. Greyson Media, LLC, 2017. Kindle Edition.

Greyson's novel is divided into forty-five chapters, each with a date before and after the anniversary of a massacre in a cabin. Faith, a twenty-three-year-old girl who survived the massacre and returns to her hometown after her release from a mental hospital is the narrative's protagonist.

Faith is the sole survivor of a murder spree that took place before the narrative begins in which her sister, Kim, a family friend, Mrs. Foster, Faith’s friend and Mrs. Foster's daughter, Anna were killed. Faith's father died also, but the police concluded that he killed everyone and then committed suicide. Faith does not believe this is true. She believes that an unknown person she calls Rat Face is responsible for the deaths, however, the local police have officially closed the case.

Years later, Faith sees the man she calls Rat Face. In an effort to catch him, she takes extreme actions which cause her to break the law. Due to her mother's intervention, she is sentenced to a mental hospital instead of jail. As the narrative opens, she goes to see her therapist in the hospital who convinces her to talk to the police yet another time. This time she talks to a woman named Henryka Vasilyeva. The woman is an FBI agent whom Faith refers to as Henry. Henry says that the FBI is looking into the case because of similar recent murders.

Prior to the tenth anniversary of the murders, Faith leaves the facility. Faith’s mother, Beverly, does the paperwork and takes Faith to the apartment she has gotten for her and tells her the schedule she must follow to adhere to her probation. In addition, she has gotten Faith a car. The relationship between Faith and Beverly is tense as Beverly obviously favored Kim after discovering that Kim had Fabry disease. In addition, Beverly wrote a bestseller about Faith’s life called, The Girl Who Lived.

After Beverly drops her off, events take place in Faith’s life that lead to the resolution of the crimes. She sees Rat Face again and begins her own search for him. Her search sets off a series of events which reveal that Rat Face did not work alone. A psychopath named Cory was his accomplice. In addition, the murders were not a random event. Faith’s mother was the mastermind. She wanted Faith’s father dead because she wanted to be with her college sweetheart, Thad.

It turns out that Thad is Kim’s father. Beverly, Thad, and Faith’s father discovered this when Kim was diagnosed with Fabry disease. Faith’s father did not have it. Thad does. They hid the truth and Faith’s father did not leave Beverly. Beverly, however, wanted a perfect life with Thad and Kim. Beverly warned Mrs. Foster not go to the cabin, but does not care that Mrs. Foster and Anna were victims. Since Faith lived, and reminds Beverly of the mistake she made by marrying her father and having his child, she decided to use Faith to make money. Thus, with the help of Cory, she tries to drive Faith crazy during the narrative and finally tries to frame her for murder. The police kill Beverly at the end of the narrative as she points a gun at Faith’s head and appears to be ready to shoot her.

Faith also uncovers other truths. In addition to being accused of murder, Faith’s father was also accused of being the customer of a woman name Sara-Jane Bradley, also known as the soccer mom hooker. Faith discovers that Sarah-Jane lied when she gave the authorities his name. Faith also learns that Kim’s boyfriend at the time of her death was not trying to break up with Kim, as Kim and Faith thought at the time. He planned to ask Kim to marry him. Now a policeman because of Kim’s murder, he has been conducting his own investigation to locate Kim’s murderer. Finally, Detective Lionel Walker, a policeman who was assigned to the case, understands Faith. He also wants to find the real culprit. Previously, Faith had blamed him for the closing of the case.

In addition, Faith meets a possible romantic interest, named Robert, and acts uncharacteristically as she accepts support from other people. At the end of the narrative, she goes to the cabin, celebrates the lives of the dead, burns the cabin, and limps away along the path.