Schön ist die Jugend is about a young man who, after a long search for a place in society, has "become something decent" and returns to his parents' house. The following summer months are described before the protagonist takes up a job abroad. In a very detailed and atmospheric language, Hesse describes the memory of childhood and the security in an intact family, which one can bring out at any time with a little luck and a sunny disposition, as Anna Amberg, the unrivaled love of this story, expresses to make times of need and pain a little more bearable.