In 1929 New York, bond-seller Nick Carraway, in a sanitarium for depression and alcoholism, is persuaded by his doctor to write a therapeutic account of what put him there. Nick's journal describes how, seven years earlier, he had moved to a tiny house on Long Island adjoining the sumptuous mansion owned by enigmatic neighbour, the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby. After attending one of Gatsby's legendary parties Nick is asked by Gatsby to arrange a meeting with his cousin Daisy, now married to the brutish. philandering Tom Buchanan, who was Gatsby's true love prior to war service. As Nick complies he comes to see that Gatsby, once a poor boy, has recreated himself as a fascinating millionaire purely to win Daisy back but the events of a drunken afternoon conspire to bring about an ending which is anything but happy.