The novel describes the life and career of Stoner, a modest professor of English Literature: his teaching, his relationships at the University, his friendships, the failure of his marriage, but also his love for a young female professor, a relationship that will inevitably get entangled in the contradictions and rivalries of university life.

"The most important element of the novel," the author writes, "is the awareness of the work, of the profession that Stoner has... The love for something is what matters."