At their family farm along Lovely Creek, a small rural community near Frankfort, Nebraska, the Wheeler family lives with their household: the intelligent, self-doubting, and aimless 19-year-old Claude Wheeler; the Wheeler family cook, Mahailey, an illiterate but kindhearted elderly woman from the impoverished hills of Virginia who has a special fondness for Claude; Claude’s father, Nat Wheeler, a successful farmer, distributor, and businessman; Claude’s mother, Evangeline Wheeler, a well-educated but puritanically religious woman who feels a deep connection to Claude; Claude’s older brother, Bayliss, a thin, “dyspeptic” man obsessed with material advancement, who condemns all pleasurable activities and runs a farm implement business; and Claude’s slovenly younger brother, Ralph, who is obsessed with any new gadgets that make labor quick and easy.

Claude often finds himself at odds with his surroundings, caught in uncomfortable “in-between” spaces. He objects to the careless and cruel ways farm laborers handle their animals but feels distant from farming as a profession. He disagrees with Bayliss’s miserly habits and Prohibitionist beliefs but feels compelled to defend Bayliss against locals who object to his personality (such as his former high school classmate, the strong-bodied and strong-willed Leonard Dawson). Claude feels torn between his ingrained identity as a hardworking American—influenced by his father’s capitalist ambitions—his belief that real “men” must repress their emotions and bitter feelings, and his desire for deeper cultural and intellectual stimulation.