The following edition of the text was used in the creation of this study guide: Jones, Gayl. The Unicorn Woman. Virago, 2024. Kindle AZW file.

Set in the U.S. a few years after World War II, the story follows Bud, an African American tractor mechanic from Kentucky, whose life becomes consumed by the “Unicorn Woman,” a Black carnival performer with a horn on her forehead. The present day narrative is interspersed throughout with Bud’s childhood memories, memories from his time in Europe after the war, and his dreams and visions of the Unicorn Woman.

Bud first encounters her at a traveling show and is struck by her beauty and aloofness. He returns repeatedly, lingering in front of her display even as the owner orders him away. At his second visit, the Unicorn Woman revolves on a stool while Bud and the rest of the crowd stand still. Bud learns her name is Ziga Dalan but refuses to call her anything but the Unicorn Woman. He drops her a note after another show, but she gives no sign of receiving it.

Bud confides his obsession to his aunt Maggie, who laughs at his fixation on the horn and directs him to Doc Leeds, a herbalist. At Doc Leeds’s, he waits respectfully through her radio program before asking whether the horn could be real. Doc Leeds says it might be and that she would need to examine the Unicorn Woman in person.

In Memphis, Bud visits Gladys, a woman he is been seeing casually. She presses him for stories of the war and segregation; he replies only in brief. Gladys introduces him as her cousin to Wooley Boatman, the boarding-house proprietor, and shares local gossip, but Bud remains distant, continually measuring Gladys against the Unicorn Woman. When Gladys moves on, Bud asks Wooley if any carnivals have come to town.

On his next carnival run, Bud asks someone for a meeting with the Unicorn Woman who hands him a note from another of the carnival performers. The note explains that The Unicorn Woman’s contract has been sold to Wiley’s Wonders, sending her on to a new show. The letter writer regrets the sale and wishes Bud luck in tracking her down.

Back in Kentucky, Bud runs into his “sometimes” girlfriend, Esta, who tells him, “my unicorn found me,” (153) meaning she’s moved on from Bud. Undeterred, Bud continues checking carnival schedules and writing letters, convinced he must find the Unicorn Woman.

One evening, Bud follows a poster for a “Revitalist Sermon about Unicorn Women and Other Oddities” and recognizes the preacher as the Reverend who once invited him into his church. Afterward, the Reverend admits he, too, has seen the Unicorn Woman in Memphis and confesses his own fascination with her horn.

After Bud once again visits Doc Leeds, she gently turns the conversation: perhaps it is the Unicorn Woman who is seeking something rather than waiting passively to be discovered. She reminds Bud that obsession can blind us to the possibility that the one we chase may be pursuing her own path. The novel closes without Bud ever finding her again, leaving their fates unresolved.