William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher and marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death, his colleagues rarely remember him. Yet with truthfulness and compassion, this novel uncovers a story of the conflicts, defeats and victories that pass unrecorded by history—and in doing so reclaims the significance of his life.