The following version of this novel was used to produce the guide: O'Brien, Tim. America Fantastica. Mariner Books, 2023.

The beginning of America Fantastica finds its protagonist, Boyd Halverson, robbing a bank in the small town of Fulda, CA for no particular reason other than that he is bored. After kidnapping one of the bank clerks in the process, it gradually becomes clear that Boyd intends to find the whereabouts of his former father-in-law, Jim Dooney, a wealthy tycoon who ruined Boyd's journalism career by exposing him as a fraud. Although Boyd's robbery sends ripple effects through Fulda, it does not result in police involvement, since the two owners of the bank, Douglas and Lois Cutterby, have no interest in filing any reports about the robbery since they have been committing fraudulent bank activities for decades and do not want to be found out. The kidnapping of Angie, however, does prompt her erstwhile boyfriend, a career criminal named Randy Zapf, to begin pursuing them in an attempt to punish Boyd for involving himself with his partner. At the same time, Junius Kirakossian, a CEO who is married to Boyd's ex-wife Evelyn, sends his bodyguard and CFO, Henry Speck, on a similarly punitive mission because he feels that Boyd still has some sway over his wife.

Boyd brings Angie to his childhood home in Santa Monica and begins attempting to contact Evelyn, which he eventually manages to do, so that he can learn about Dooney's whereabouts. Though Evelyn is reluctant to help him, Boyd is able to determine that Dooney has a residence in Port Aransas, Texas, and he and Angie begin to make their way in that direction. Randy accidentally involves himself with two ex-cons named Carl and Cyrus, who begin forcing themselves into his plans to find Boyd as soon as they realize that Boyd has 80,000 dollars on him. Meanwhile, Lois, who is sleeping with the only police officer in Fulda, a man named Toby Van Der Kellen, sends Toby to track down Randy so that they can learn more about Boyd's intentions and also orchestrate a second robbery, which Lois hopes to use in order to fraudulently collect insurance money. Meanwhile, Angie and Boyd arrive in Port Aransas, only to discover that Dooney and his partner, Calvin, have fled to an elaborate lakefront house that Dooney owns in Bemidji, Minnesota, prompting Angie and Boyd to head north in a camper van.

Henry manages to pick up Boyd's tail in Texas and follows them up to Minnesota. Upon arriving in Bemidji, Angie is able to secure the services of a local man named Alvin, who leads them to the mansion, at which point they discover that Calvin and Dooney have again managed to escape them. Boyd reveals to Angie that he had intended to commit suicide in front of Dooney in order to punish him for causing so much pain, and Angie decides that they should stay in Minnesota and convalesce before deciding what to do next. Henry, meanwhile, takes up residence with a beautiful woman who claims her name is Enni but turns out to be lying, and the pair begin keeping tabs on Angie and Boyd at Junius' behest, though Henry has been advised by Evelyn not to visit any real harm on Boyd. Meanwhile, Randy murders Carl and Cyrus, heads to Fulda with Toby Van Der Kellen, and then promptly flees to Minnesota to track down Angie, leaving Toby to orchestrate the bank robbery on his own. Lois kills Toby following the robbery, but is surprised when Douglas kills her, something he has been planning to do in order to pocket all the wealth for himself.

Following the deaths of Lois and Toby, the only remaining law enforcement in Fulda, a police dispatcher named Wanda Jane Epstein, begins to suspect that Douglas was responsible for the murders, even though he has successfully convinced the feds that the culprit was Randy. She enlists the help of her friend Hedda Todhauser to sleep with Douglas and extract a confession from him, but the plan begins to go awry when, in the midst of the process, Hedda decides that it would be more advantageous to marry Douglas for his money than to rat him out. Evelyn visits Boyd in Bemidji and they reconcile, but before they have a chance to leave, Enni and Henry manage to ambush Boyd and break his toes so that Henry can tell Junius that he did his job. Randy, after a long and difficult journey, manages to find his way to Bemidji, where he intends to confront Angie and Boyd. Meanwhile, Evelyn returns to California and insists that Dooney and Junius work together to give Boyd his old life back.

After Angie, Boyd, and Randy, they attempt to drive back across the country together, but find themselves trapped in Deadwood, SD when the Covid-19 pandemic hits. There, the feds catch up with Randy and arrest him for the murders of Lois and Toby, which prompts Angie to decide to commit herself to him and agree to a prison marriage. Meanwhile, Dooney and Junius begin assailing Douglas with offers to buy his bank, which he haggles with them over for months on end while everyone convalesces from Covid-19. Henry contracts Covid and dies from it, while Douglas eventually succumbs to pneumonia, avoiding prosecution for the crimes that Hedda and Wanda Jane manage to successfully prove he committed. Meanwhile, Angie and Boyd travel back to Fulda, and, after a brief detour to visit Boyd's estranged father, settle back into their daily routines. At the conclusion of the novel, circumstances are much the same as they were prior to the robbery.