The Man Who Had All the Luck, in its novel form, concerns David, a young man in his twenties, talented and successful in everything he does. Setting himself up as a mechanic, he manages to get by on instinct until confronted with a car whose fault he cannot diagnose. He takes it to a specialist garage in a nearby town but accepts the credit for the repairs they effect. As a result he secures a contract to work on the tractors of a neighbouring farmer and from there his business grows. Slowly he adds other ventures, in which he is equally successful. But he is increasingly aware that he is surrounded by those who have failed in life.

One friend, Shory, had lost his legs during the war and as a result feels unworthy of the woman he loves. Another, Amos, is trained by his father to be a baseball pitcher but, despite his talent, fails to be taken on by the major league because his training, directed by his father in the basement of their house, has made him insensitive to other aspects of the game. A third friend, J. B. Fellers, appears to thrive, even having the child that he and his wife had desperately wanted, only inadvertently to kill that child when drunk.

For David, by contrast, everything goes well. He has the child he wanted and succeeds in everything he tries but his very success breeds a deepening paranoia.