[1] The film is divided into eleven chapters, titled "Intuition", "Denial", "Anger", "Apathy", "Emptiness", "Accountability", "Reformation", "Forgiveness", "Resurrection", "Hope", and "Redemption".

[2] The film uses poetry and prose written by British-Somali poet Warsan Shire; the poems adapted were "The Unbearable Weight of Staying", "Dear Moon", "How to Wear Your Mother's Lipstick", "Nail Technician as Palm Reader", and "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love".

Beyoncé, hair braided in cornrows, clad in a tight grey tank top and leggings two-piece and draped in a fur coat, sings aggressively as the song is interrupted by Malcolm X's speech "Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?

Beyoncé is then heard reciting a spoken-word poem about infidelity over the slow melody of a jewelry box playing a theme from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.

The camera slowly zooms in on a windowed door as the thumping beat of "6 Inch" begins, cutting to scenes of Beyoncé riding in a vintage Cadillac at night.

Reformation: Beyoncé lies in an empty playing field in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as "Love Drought" begins, cutting to scenes of women dressed in white walking in a line into the ocean, alluding to the mass suicide of captured Africans at Igbo Landing, who chose to drown themselves over a life of slavery.

Forgiveness: In a sparsely furnished house, she plays "Sandcastles" on the piano, intercut with scenes of a child's drawings, wilted flowers, decorative objects, and a fireplace.

A dancer begins dancing to the instrumental break, intercut with footage of women sitting under a large willow tree and having a communal dinner, and Winnie Harlow wearing a crown of thorns.

The film cuts to footage of Jay-Z's grandmother, Hattie White, celebrating her 90th birthday as she delivers a speech on overcoming hardship, marking how she was served lemons but made lemonade.

Scenes of women on a plantation coming together and tending to a communal garden are seen, as the final song "All Night" begins with Beyoncé now back at Fort Macomb at sunset, wearing an elaborate dress.

[5] In "Forward", the mothers of Trayvon Martin (Sybrina Fulton), Michael Brown (Lesley McFadden), and Eric Garner (Gwen Carr) are featured holding pictures of their deceased sons.

[8] Lemonade draws from the prolific literary, musical, cinematic, and aesthetic sensibilities of black cultural producers to create a rich tapestry of poetic innovation.

[13][14] In June 2016, Matthew Fulks sued Beyoncé, Sony Music, Columbia Records and Parkwood Entertainment for allegedly lifting nine visual elements of his short film Palinoia for the trailer for Lemonade.