The narrative opens with Nick Carraway recounting his move to the Long Island suburb of West Egg next door to the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is famous for throwing extravagant, uninvited-guest parties, yet remains an isolated figure who stares longingly across the bay at a green light on a dock. Nick travels to East Egg to visit his cousin Daisy and her wealthy, brutal husband Tom Buchanan, where he also meets the cynical golfer Jordan Baker.
Soon, Nick is drawn into the complex web of his acquaintances' lives when Tom takes him to the ash-heaps of the valley of the industrial wasteland, introducing him to his mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Tensions mount during a drunken gathering in a Manhattan apartment, which culminates in Tom violently breaking Myrtle's nose after she dares to speak Daisy's name.
As the summer progresses, Nick finally receives a formal invitation to one of Gatsby's soirées and meets his host directly. Gatsby reveals a surprising, deeply guarded objective: he and Daisy had a passionate romance five years prior before the war parted them, and he bought his mansion simply to be near her again. With Nick's help, the former lovers are awkwardly reunited, and their affair quickly reignites.
The climax unfolds during a stiflingly hot afternoon in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom confronts Gatsby about the affair, exposing Gatsby's illicit bootlegging operations while fiercely asserting his own proprietary hold over Daisy. Shattered by Tom's revelations regarding his criminal past, Daisy recoils from Gatsby's demand that she declare she never loved her husband.
Driving back to Long Island in Gatsby's car, Daisy strikes and kills Myrtle Wilson, who had bolted into the road in a fit of jealous rage. Although Daisy was behind the wheel, Gatsby resolves to take the blame to protect her. A distraught George Wilson, convinced that the driver of the yellow car was his wife's deliberate murderer, tracks Gatsby down to his mansion and shoots him dead in his swimming pool before taking his own life.
In the aftermath, Gatsby's lavish world vanishes instantly; even Daisy and Tom depart without a word or a farewell. Only Nick, Gatsby's aging father, and a solitary guest attend the meager funeral. Disillusioned by the callous selfishness of the East Coast elite, Nick breaks off his relationship with Jordan and returns to the Midwest, forever haunted by Gatsby's incorruptible capacity for hope.
