Nemoe Karma opens with Pan Soedana, a widower who enjoys gambling and is deeply in debt.

When he asked his father permission to marry Loeh Tirta, Pan Sangga refused as her genealogy was unclear.

I Nyoman Darma Putra, a critic of Balinese literature, notes that the novel's author, the teacher I Wayan Gobiah, may have drawn influence from existing Indonesian-language novels as well as several Balinese-language short stories, such as Made Pasek's "Pamadat" and "Ajam Mepaloe".

Similar to Indonesian-language works published during the period, such as Marah Rusli's Sitti Nurbaya (1922) and Abdul Muis' Salah Asuhan (Wrong Upbringing; 1927), Nemoe Karma depicts forced marriages as ending unhappily.

[3] Putra writes that the novel reflects the lower classes of Balinese people during the 1920s, including the tendency to gamble.

[4] It has since commonly been considered the origin of modern Balinese literature, despite the existence of earlier short stories; this may be because Nemoe Karma was more accessible.