While Arabella “Belle” Huntington is the protagonist of An American Beauty, the book explores the lives of women during the Gilded Age more broadly. The story is told through chapters that alternate between the perspectives of different female characters. While there are some similarities in their experiences, there are other factors besides gender that influence how the lives of women played out during this time.

The book features the perspectives of Belle, Catherine, and Clara—three very different women who nevertheless have one thing in common: their dependence on men. All three women come from vastly different backgrounds and life experiences. Catherine is born into a wealthy family, but her parents disown her when she marries for love, leaving her to sink into poverty. Clara’s story is almost the inverse of Catherine’s: She is plucked from destitution and brought up in immense wealth and privilege. Belle, too, moves from dire circumstances to substantially grander ones across her life, albeit through her own machinations rather than fate, as in Clara’s case. Despite these vastly different circumstances, each of the three women’s fates ultimately rests in the hands of a man: Catherine loses her standing because of her husband; Belle climbs the ranks because of her lover; and Clara remains protected and cushioned throughout her life because of her father.