Kim Stanley Robinson's "Pacific Edge" I think deals with this rather well. It is set in an (arguably) socialist future California. It is quite deliberately a utopia, but not a cardboard one. It is socialist, but with room for a small for profit sector . The conflict in the novel is set around a villanous for proft enterprise (probably illegally larger than the maximum size a for-profit enterprise is supposed to get) trying to develop in an ecologically damanging way a local hilltop that has special meaning to the point-of-view character, and many of the other inhabitants of the town. There are also a number of romantic conflicts, and friendships made, maintained or destroyed. The hilltop is saved but the point-of-view character ends up failing to make the romantic connection he hoped for. In the end, the point-of-view character, healthy, economically secure, with plenty of chances for satisfying work, friendship, adventure, and future romance reflects that he is probably the most unhappy person in the whole world. And as he thinks this, he bursts out laughing.