Set in a small town in the American Midwest during the 1940s and '50s, the novel depicts the life of a moralistic young woman, Lucy Nelson.

Below are the events of the novel written in chronological order: Unhappy with her home life due to her alcoholic father, Will's, treatment of her mother, Lucy Nelson starts making plans to convert to Catholicism, thinking that she will find solace in the religion.

Consequently, he does not return until many years have passed, although it is revealed that he and his wife have, during his long absence, been corresponding via letters, which enrages Lucy's grandmother, who wants her daughter to divorce her husband and marry a kindly older man.

After being verbally abused by her father-in-law, Lucy retaliates by exposing his infidelity, only to find that her mother-in-law is already aware of his liaisons, and is seemingly indifferent to them.

In the New York Times, critic and writer Wilfrid Sheed observed Roth remains a comic novelist: “His best scenes are still his lightest, the ones you aren't looking for.” Sheed continued, “At the same time, it should be emphasized that ‘When She Was Good,’ both in its sustained theme and its detail work, is a step in class above most recent novels: up on the ledge, in fact, where stringent standards set in.