The novel tells the story of Julian and Karel and their group of young poets in New York at the beginning of the 1930s. None of them have a proper apartment, which is why they are constantly on the move: Everyone is afraid of missing out on something. Money is tight, and cheap alcohol flows freely at the parties. Even in this gentle milieu at the fringes of society, there are moochers and brutal crooks. Sexual encounters happen easily, but satisfying or even happy moments are rare: These young people are venturing into uncharted territory in everything they do, a landscape without paths and without rules – which is why they go with the flow and follow their immediate impulses. The language reflects this way of life and follows even the most extravagant streams of consciousness. Gertrude Stein wrote about The Young and Evil: "This book creates the current generation.".