The story begins in a boarding school on the Bosphorus when Tahsin, a student, injures a classmate named Cemil for insulting him with the slur "donkey Turk." Orhan, an idealistic and nationalist teacher, intervenes and takes the injured boy home. This incident introduces Orhan to the wealthy, degenerate circles of Armistice-era Istanbul. There, he meets and falls in love with Vedia, a woman with a Western upbringing and cosmopolitan views. Through Orhan, who vacillates between idealism and materialism, the novel explores the deep fractures in Turkish society.

Written at the peak of Peyami Safa’s literary career, We People poses a critical question: "How many kinds of morality can a Turk have who doesn't believe Turkey will survive?" Through its characters, the book debates the intellectual currents of the time—materialism, socialism, mandate advocacy, and nationalism—suggesting that those suffering from an crisis of ideals are destined to lose their balance. Ultimately, Safa argues for the primacy of the spirit over the material world, portraying humans as fundamentally spiritual beings.