Bruce Dudley is a Chicago newspaper reporter who abandons his mundane job, his wife, and his old identity. Inspired by Mark Twain, he travels down the Mississippi River to New Orleans before returning incognito to his childhood roots in Old Harbor, Indiana. Taking a job at a local carriage wheel factory, Bruce begins an affair with Aline, the unhappy wife of his wealthy boss, Fred Grey. Aline is drawn to Bruce's bohemian simplicity, and the two eventually flee together, fracturing her marriage. The novel heavily reflects the cultural shifts of the Roaring Twenties. Sherwood Anderson's ''Dark Laughter'' is a modernist novel that explores 1920s sexual liberation, the search for personal identity, and the stultifying nature of modern industrial life. It was Anderson's only commercial bestseller.