The Great Gatsby 1926

Nick Carraway pilots his boat across the harbor to his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom Buchanan’s mansion in East Egg. While there, he learns Tom and Daisy’s marriage is troubled and Tom is having an affair with a woman in New York. Nick lives in a small cottage in West Egg, next to a mysterious tycoon named Gatsby, a former Oxford student and decorated World War I veteran, who regularly throws extravagant parties at his home.

Tom takes Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who is married to George Wilson, an automotive mechanic. George needs to purchase a vehicle from Tom, but Tom is there only to draw Myrtle to his city apartment. There she taunts him with Daisy’s name.

Back on Long Island, Daisy wants to set Nick up with her friend, Jordan Baker, a professional golfer. When Nick and Jordan attend a party at Gatsby’s home, Nick is invited to meet Gatsby privately, who asks him to lunch the following day.

At lunch, Nick meets Gatsby’s business partner Meyer Wolfsheim, a Jewish gangster and gambler who rigged the 1919 World Series. The following day, Jordan appears at Nick’s work and asks him to invite Daisy to his house so that Gatsby can meet with her.

Gatsby surprises Daisy at lunch. It is revealed that Gatsby and Daisy were once lovers, though she would not marry him because he was poor.

Daisy and Gatsby have an affair, which soon becomes obvious. While Tom and Daisy entertain Gatsby, Jordan, and Nick at their home, Daisy, on a hot summer day, proposes they go into the city as a diversion. At the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby and Daisy reveal their affair. Gatsby wants Daisy to admit she never loved Tom. She does not and drives off in Gatsby’s car. The others return separately to the island.

During the drive home, Daisy hits Myrtle when Myrtle runs into the street. Believing that Gatsby killed his wife, George later goes to Gatsby’s mansion and fatally shoots him. George then commits suicide.

Nick holds a funeral for Gatsby. There he meets the man’s father and learns Gatsby’s original name is “Gatz”. No one else attends the funeral.

Afterward, Daisy and Tom continue with their lives as though nothing occurred. Nick breaks up with Jordan and moves back to the Midwest, frustrated with Eastern ways. He laments Gatsby’s inability to escape his past.