The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Agbaje-Williams, Ore. The Three of Us. Penguin Random House LLC, 2023.

Ore Agbaje-Williams' novel The Three of Us is written from the first person points of view of the novel's three main characters: the wife, the husband, and the wife's best friend Temi. The novel is organized into three sections which collectively trace a single afternoon and evening in the characters' lives together. Although the narrative employs both the past and present tense and incorporates frequent flashbacks, the following summary uses the present tense and abides by a linear mode of explanation for the sake of clarity.

On the day that the wife and her best friend Temi were meant to go away on holiday together, Temi comes over to the wife's house. The wife cancelled the trip, because she and her husband are trying for a baby and the wife does not want to upset the husband. When the wife told Temi she was going to try to get pregnant a month prior, Temi was confused and frustrated. She then disappeared on a four-week trip to Lagos.

Although it is only noon, almost as soon as Temi arrives at the wife's house, the friends start drinking together. They share wine, talk about the past, look at old photo albums, try on the wife's clothes, and dig around in the kitchen for snacks. Because the husband has recently instated a keto diet, the wife has few foods to offer her friend. Temi is skeptical, noting that the wife's life seems even more rigid and controlled than it did a month earlier.

Temi decides to take a nap. The wife goes out for more snacks and wine, deciding to stop by the husband's office on the way. She hopes he does not notice she has been drinking.

The husband is annoyed to learn that Temi is still at the house. Ever since he and the wife married, he has hoped that Temi would disappear. He knew she and the wife were close, but did not expect her to be such a fixture in his home. He has been thankful for her absence over the past month, but now dreads returning home to see her. In spite of his frustration, he takes his wife's advice and leaves the office early to work from home.

While the wife and Temi drink and chat downstairs, the husband works in his study upstairs. Although he is in his own space and wearing headphones, he can still hear the women below. He feels irritated and wishes he could make Temi disappear. He imagined his life with the wife differently, and is convinced that Temi is the real problem. Her presence seems to change his wife into a woman he not only does not recognize, but neither trusts nor likes.

When the husband finishes his work, he joins the women downstairs. They continue drinking together. As is typical of their dynamic, the husband and Temi verbally spar one another. Temi insults the husband and the husband either tries to hurt her in return or ignores her. However, he cannot help feeling wounded when he notices the wife laughing at Temi's jokes and barbs. When the three order takeout, the husband decides to omit Temi's order to annoy her.

When the wife was at the office earlier, Temi snooped through the couple's bathroom. She has always known the wife's relationship with the husband was wrong, but she believed the wife would extract herself sooner or later. Having returned from Lagos to find the wife acting even more demur than usual, Temi has begun to worry. Then she finds the wife's prenatal vitamins and negative pregnancy test in the bathroom and makes a plan. She realizes that she must intervene before it is too late and she loses the wife as a friend forever.

Because the wife and Temi have been friends since they were children, Temi has believed that she can convince the wife to see the husband differently. However, because she has failed to turn the wife against the husband, Temi realizes she will have to turn the husband against the wife. All she has to do is make him doubt the wife in order to fracture the way he sees her and their marriage. Temi therefore tells the wife to tell the husband that she has swapped out her prenatal vitamins for birth control pills because she still does not want to have children. Although the wife insists Temi is lying and begs the husband to trust her, the husband is unsure who or what to believe. While watching the couple argue, Temi pours herself another glass of wine.