"The Golden Notebook" follows Anna Wulf and her daughter. Wulf is a somewhat communist author with one successful book, "The Frontiers of War," behind her. Wulf has four notebooks that contain her writing on various subjects, and she wants to combine them into one golden notebook. The different notebook entries are woven in and out of the novel.
Inside the black notebook, Wulf writes about her published work, "The Frontiers of War," which chronicles her time in Africa. She writes about the interest created by her book and the many people interested in adapting it into a film. Wulf hates that she has, in a sense, lost part of herself. Although she created this book, it is being changed by the people who want to work on it. She refuses to give the book's rights to a director who has his own vision for how a movie based on the book should look on film.
Wulf writes about the communist party in her red notebook. She joins the organization, but wonders why she is a member if she has so many critical thoughts about the party. She keeps her friend, Molly, from sending her own complaints to the party, as she fears the communists may kill Molly for it. After seeing how the party has killed and threatened many people, Wulf finally leaves the communist party. She begins to take an interest in the socialist party, which Michael, her boyfriend, is a part of.
The yellow notebook contains Wulf's manuscript for a new novel, "The Shadow of the Third." The novel follows two characters, an actress and a writer. The manuscript opens with the two women fighting over whether to attend a party that night or not. The book then follows the actress, Ella, as she goes to Paris. In the end, Anna stops using the yellow notebook for her manuscript. Instead, she takes notes on different ideas she has for short stories and novels.
Wulf keeps the blue notebook as a diary, since she turns most of her personal life into stories. She writes about Molly and her son, Tommy. Tommy is resentful of Molly because she left Tommy's father. This brings up personal issues for Wulf. She fears her own daughter, Janet, will resent her when she discovers Wulf never loved Janet's father. While married to Janet's father, Wulf started an affair with Michael. Although Wulf and Michael are together for a majority of "The Golden Notebook," Michael ends the relationship. Wulf takes up with another man, Saul, but has conflicting feelings about him.