Arthur's late father had literary ambitions, but his mother has a more worldly temperament and spends years trying to pry a fortune from family relations in the coal mining business.

After publishing his first novel, he falls in with an older married woman, Frieda Winter, with whom he maintains an emotionally tumultuous affair for too long.

He gets involved with Scott Hoag, a builder from his own town, who gives him the opportunity to participate in real estate developments, such as suburban shopping centers.

A head trauma from his days of coal trucking also comes into play, and (like Thomas Wolfe) he eventually dies of an infection at a young age.

Reportedly to save costs, the film was shot in black and white at a time when most major productions were made in color.