Sister Carrie is about a young country girl who moves to the big city, where she begins to realize her own American Dream by embarking on a life of sin rather than hard work and perseverance.

At the time of its first publication, the novel caused a minor scandal, and Dreiser had difficulty finding a publisher for it. This was due to its blurred division between good and bad and the fact that, at the end, Carrie is rewarded rather than punished for her immoral life. (Although Dreiser's moralizing narrator does assert that, despite the fame and the money she has amassed, Carrie will not be able to achieve peace of mind.)