Nick Carraway takes his boat to East Egg to his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom’s mansion. Once he arrives, he learns that Tom has a woman in New York and there is trouble between him and Daisy. Nick, meanwhile, is living in nearby West Egg, next door to an eccentric millionaire named Gatsby, who throws wild parties at his home.
Tom takes Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle, who is the wife of a car mechanic. Myrtle’s husband wants to buy a car from Tom, but Tom is only there to lure Myrtle to his secret apartment in the city. Back on Long Island, Daisy wants to set Nick up with her friend Jordan, a professional golfer. When Nick and Jordan attend a party at Gatsby's house, Nick is invited to have a private meeting with Gatsby, who wants to take him to lunch the next day.
At lunch, Nick meets Gatsby's business associate, a swindler and a gambler named Meyer Wolfsheim who fixed the 1919 World Series. The next day Jordan shows up at Nick’s work and asks him to invite Daisy to his place so that Gatsby can meet her for tea. Gatsby surprises Daisy at the lunch, and it is revealed that Gatsby and Daisy were once in love, but that she couldn't marry him because he was poor.
Daisy and Gatsby embark on an affair, which soon enough comes to Tom's attention. When Tom and Daisy host Gatsby, Jordan, and Nick at their home one day, Daisy suggests they go into the city. At the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby and Daisy reveal their affair and Gatsby demands that Daisy says she was never in love with Tom. She can’t do it, and runs to the car. On the way home, Daisy drives and hits Myrtle with Gatsby's car when Myrtle runs into the road. Thinking that Gatsby is the one who killed Myrtle, Wilson shoots and kills the millionaire while he is lounging in his pool. Daisy and Tom continue their lives as if nothing has happened.
