In It Was Only a Paper Moon, bitter loneliness, overwhelming debt, crop failures, and harassment by Mackie Meistermann, the town's bully businessman's son, plague Edmund Lubin. Edmund's demanding mother dies, and after living alone for too long, Edmund's luck changes when he finds love and marriage with Carla Mae, a former classmate. He also finds his mother's venomous diary and learns secrets he could never have imagined. But Edmund's life finally comes together when baby girl "Sunny" is born. The salt-of-the-earth family faces the obstacles of farm life, and in a turn of fortune, win and lose a big lottery payoff, with the IRS still hounding them all the way. Edmund's luck turns again, and after the local bank of Haustown goes broke, forcing the town into ruin, further tragedy strikes, causing Edmund to lose all he ever loved. Following heartache upon heartache, Edmund decides to make things right himself, and in It Was Only a Paper Moon, his sad and touching tale of true love is soon made known.