Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed because when you're fat, to be noticed is to be judged. She is biding her time at a job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls' magazine until she can afford weight-loss surgery. But lately she is being followed by a girl in outlandish clothes and combat boots.
When Plum finally confronts her, she finds herself falling into the mysterious world of Calliope House, where an odd collection of women orbit around Verena Baptist, daughter of a famous diet guru. Verena offers to give Plum the money for the surgery, but there is a catch: First Plum must go through a series of seemingly perverse challenges that will force her to confront her past, her doubts, and the real cost of becoming "beautiful".
Dietland is a scathing and revolutionary debut that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our obsession with weight loss - from the inside out and with fists flying.