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Eugene, the youngest son of the Gant family, grows up in a chaotic environment. His father, stonemason W.O. Gant, struggles with alcoholism and a passionate temper, while his mother, Eliza, runs a boarding house, obsessed with savings and real estate. The family is torn by conflict, and his siblings, especially his older brother Ben, have complex relationships with Eugene. The novel follows Eugene's development from childhood to adolescence, his education, and the awakening of his intellectual and artistic ambitions. The University of Chapel Hill opens up a world of literature and philosophy for him, but also deepens his sense of alienation from his family and provincial life.

Wolfe's lush, poetic style captures Eugene's inner struggle, his longing for freedom, and his conflict with the limitations of the petty bourgeois world. The death of his brother Ben deeply affects him, symbolizing the loss of innocence and the impossibility of returning to the past. The novel ends with Eugene going to Harvard to study, where he seeks a new beginning but remains haunted by memories of home.

The title, from Milton's Lycidas, reflects nostalgia and the impossibility of returning to an idealized past. Wolfe's novel, a masterpiece of American literature, celebrates individualism and artistic passion, but also depicts the cost of separation from one's roots.