Amory Blaine is an intelligent young man from Minnesota, who believes that his life will be full of promise. A poet and lover at heart, his life is derailed with his deployment as a soldier in World War I. When he returns, he begins a career in advertising, but is disenchanted with the work, feelings that it does not let his creativity run free the way it should.

The novel follows Amory's life and series of failed romances as he contends with living in the aftermath of a global war. He ends up impoverished, with only his education and love for writing as companions. He laments the events of his life that brought him to a sorry state, and wonders if there is a better way for society to be built that would allow the creative to flourish.

This Side of Paradise was F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, and was largely based on his own experiences as a young man from Minnesota who attends Princeton and learns to write. Being semi-autobiographical, the book is very reflective, and written with total honesty, even with some parts holding a light to Fitzegerald's well-known personal flaws.