The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Jewell, Lisa. Watching You. Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2018.

Lisa Jewell's mystery novel Watching You is set in Bristol, England in the winter of 2017. The narrative is told from the third person point of view and employs both the past and the present tenses. In spite of the author's playful structural choices throughout, the following summary abides by a linear mode of explanation for the sake of clarity.

In January of 2017, Joey Mullen was trying to settle into her new life in the Melville Heights neighborhood of Bristol. After impulsively marrying her crush Alfie Butter during their time in Ibiza, she moved back to her Bristol hometown. Her older brother Jack invited her and Alfie to a movie in with him and his pregnant wife Rebecca. Having always admired Melville Heights's idyllic painted houses, Joey was thrilled.

Joey visited her mother's grave at the local cemetery. She apologized for having been away for so long. She updated her mother on her life, and assured her that she was finally growing up and settling down.

In spite of Joey's hopes that marriage and relocation would cure her internal troubles, she was still unhappy and unsettled. At roughly 27 years old, Joey felt embarrassed that the only job she could secure was at a job at a child's play center in town. The job did not pay well and made Joey ashamed. While out with her boss Dawn at a bar one night, however, Joey felt a rush of excitement when she ran into her handsome neighbor Tom Fitzwilliam. The two struck up a conversation and ended up spending the night drinking together.

Tom Fitzwilliam lived in a yellow house in Melville Heights with his wife Nicola and teenage son Freddie. The family moved in a year prior when Tom was relocated to Bristol for work. He was now the head teacher at the local academy. Wherever the family moved, Tom was loved, admired, and respected. Although Freddie could see his father's positive attributes and wanted him to be his hero, Freddie also distrusted Tom. Watching his father and Joey get out of a taxi together and kiss in the street one night, only augmented Freddie's concerns.

As the weeks passed, Joey started to run into Tom more often. Although she felt embarrassed about their encounter in the street, Joey also felt a mutual heat between them. She knew it was a bad idea to get involved with Tom because they were both married. However, Joey also felt incapable of controlling her feelings for Tom.

One night, Joey invited Rebecca to the local hotel bar with her after seeing Tom and Freddie head in that direction. While out together, Joey and Rebecca spoke openly for the first time. Rebecca urged Joey not to be so hard on herself. Her younger sister Viva used to be self-critical and ended up committing suicide when she was just a teenager.

Freddie made friends with Jenna Tripp, a young girl in town whose mother was convinced that Tom was a stalker and a child molester. Freddie and Jenna began investigating Tom's past, convinced he was hiding something. They were horrified to discover that Tom was implicated in his former student Viva Hart's suicide years prior. The police later dismissed the allegations against Tom, as Viva's diary revealed that she may have killed herself because of ongoing bullying at school.

In March, Joey and Tom made plans to meet at a hotel to have sex. While waiting for Tom to arrive, Joey realized she was making a mistake. When Tom arrived, the two talked and Tom revealed the abusive nature of his marriage. He left for home shortly thereafter. Not long later, he discovered Nicola's bloodied body on the kitchen floor of his home.

Police detectives began to investigate Nicola's murder. After questioning Joey, Alfie, Tom, Frances, Jack, and Rebecca, they discovered that Rebecca was the perpetrator. Rebecca revealed that she had in fact stabbed Nicola to death to avenge Viva's death. Nicola was the individual responsible for harassing Viva.

After Nicola's murder, Rebecca's incarceration, and Jack's daughter Eloise's birth, Joey's life began to change. She and Alfie broke up. She stayed in the Melville Heights home with Jack and helped him raise Eloise.