Plante's novels examine the spiritual in a variety of contexts, but notably in the milieu of large, working-class, Catholic families of French-Canadian background.
His male characters range from openly gay to sexually ambiguous and questioning.
[3] Plante’s work, for which he has been nominated for the National Book Award, includes Difficult Women (1983), a memoir of his relationships with Jean Rhys, Sonia Orwell, and Germaine Greer and the widely praised Francoeur Trilogy--The Family (1978), The Country (1980) and The Woods (1982).
His most recent book The Pure Lover (2009) is a memoir of Nikos Stangos, his partner of forty years.
The papers of Nikos Stangos (1936-2004), are in The Princeton University Library, the Program in Hellenic Studies.