Nick Carraway moves from the Midwest to West Egg on Long Island to begin work as a bond salesman.

Nick visits his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan at their East Egg mansion, where he meets Jordan Baker.

Tom pulls Nick off a train to introduce him to his mistress Myrtle Wilson at her husband's garage in the valley of ashes.

Nick attends one of Gatsby's extravagant parties and is formally introduced to Gatsby himself.

Jordan tells Nick that Gatsby and Daisy were once in love and asks Nick to arrange a reunion between them.

Gatsby nervously reunites with Daisy at Nick's small house after several years apart.

Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair, spending time together frequently at Gatsby's mansion.

Tom confronts Gatsby and Daisy about their affair during a heated argument at a New York hotel suite.

Daisy admits to Tom that she loves Gatsby and wants to leave him.

Tom reveals that Gatsby built his fortune through illegal bootlegging, shaking Daisy's confidence in Gatsby.

Daisy, driving Gatsby's car on the return from New York, strikes and kills Myrtle Wilson in the road.

Tom tells the grief-stricken George Wilson that Gatsby was the driver of the car that killed Myrtle.

George Wilson tracks down Gatsby and fatally shoots him in his swimming pool, then kills himself.

Gatsby's funeral is attended by almost no one from his glamorous social world.

Tom admits to Nick that he directed George Wilson toward Gatsby, knowing what George intended to do.

Nick Carraway arrives in West Egg and is drawn into the glamorous world of his neighbor Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire who throws extravagant parties. Through his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan, Nick becomes entangled in a rivalry between old and new money that grows increasingly dangerous. Gatsby's long-held obsession with Daisy leads to a rekindled affair and a brutal confrontation with Tom in a New York hotel. The deadly aftermath — Daisy accidentally killing Tom's mistress with Gatsby's car — sets off a chain of irreversible events. Tom manipulates the grieving George Wilson into believing Gatsby was the killer, leading to Gatsby's murder. Nick, the sole loyal friend to the end, is left to arrange a funeral that almost no one attends.

The core story of Gatsby's obsession and its fatal consequences.

Nick spots Gatsby alone in the dark outside his mansion, stretching his arms toward a distant light across the water.

Tom takes Nick and Myrtle to a secret apartment in New York City for a small, alcohol-fueled gathering.

Tom punches Myrtle in the face and breaks her nose after she defiantly repeats Daisy's name.

An intoxicated guest marvels in Gatsby's library that the thousands of books on the shelves are genuine.

Nick and Jordan Baker gradually become romantically involved after spending more time together at social events.

Gatsby drives Nick to a New York lunch in his enormous yellow car, anxiously asking whether Nick thinks well of him.

Nick and Gatsby meet Meyer Wolfsheim, the notorious gambler who allegedly fixed the World Series outcome.

Jordan tells Nick about discovering Daisy completely drunk the night of her bridal dinner, clutching a letter and refusing to marry.

Gatsby secretly arranges for Nick's lawn to be cut and fills Nick's house with flowers before Daisy arrives for tea.

Gatsby pulls out hundreds of expensive imported shirts for Daisy and Nick to admire, and Daisy weeps at their beauty.

Gatsby dismisses his regular servants and stops throwing parties entirely after beginning his affair with Daisy.

Nick notices Myrtle Wilson staring jealously from the garage window, having mistaken Jordan Baker for Daisy.

Nick finds Gatsby hiding in the shrubbery outside the Buchanan home, keeping a silent watch over Daisy.

Nick visits Meyer Wolfsheim seeking mourners for Gatsby's funeral; Wolfsheim sends condolences but declines to attend.

Nick ends his romantic relationship with Jordan Baker before leaving New York for good.

Behind the central drama, a series of telling moments expose the moral decay beneath the surface of 1920s wealth. From Tom's reckless party with his mistress to Nick and Jordan's casual romance, the secondary story is one of carelessness and self-indulgence. Gatsby's elaborate efforts to impress Daisy — from arranging lawn maintenance to displaying hundreds of imported shirts — reveal the depth of his obsession. Key supporting figures like Meyer Wolfsheim and the owl-eyed stranger illuminate Gatsby's criminal connections and the hollowness of his social world. After the tragedy, Gatsby's associates abandon him completely, and Nick's romance with Jordan ends bitterly. These secondary events reinforce the novel's central argument: the wealthy use people carelessly and leave no trace when things fall apart.

The parties, relationships, and hidden details behind the main story.

Jordan reveals to Nick that Tom is likely conducting an ongoing affair with a woman who called during dinner.

Nick discovers that Jordan Baker once allegedly cheated during a major golf tournament to advance her career.

Gatsby shows Nick a photograph of himself at Oxford and a war medal from Montenegro to verify his claimed past.

A police officer pulls Gatsby over for speeding but immediately lets him go after Gatsby produces a card from the police commissioner.

Jordan describes to Nick how she first saw Daisy and Gatsby together in Louisville and how Daisy nearly waited for him.

Nick reveals that Gatsby's real name is James Gatz and that he reinvented himself entirely after befriending millionaire Dan Cody.

A reporter arrives at Gatsby's door asking vague questions, reflecting the wild and contradictory rumors surrounding Gatsby's identity.

Gatsby confesses to Nick that he wants Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him at all.

Gatsby and Daisy kiss openly in front of Nick and Jordan during a lunch visit to the Buchanan home.

George Wilson informs Tom that he and Myrtle plan to move West, signaling he suspects her affair.

Gatsby confesses to Nick that Daisy, not Gatsby, was behind the wheel of the car that struck Myrtle.

Nick tells Gatsby that he is worth more than Tom, Daisy, and the rest of their careless social world combined.

Gatsby's father, Henry Gatz, arrives from the Midwest after reading about his son's death in a Chicago newspaper.

The owl-eyed man from Gatsby's early party arrives at the rainy funeral as the only non-family mourner present.

Nick resolves to leave New York and return to the Midwest, fully disillusioned with the world he found in the East.

Beneath the glittering surface of the novel lies a sequence of revelations that determine every character's fate. Early clues — Tom's affair, Jordan's dishonesty, Gatsby's fabricated identity — establish a world built entirely on lies and reinvention. As Gatsby pursues Daisy, key turning points expose the impossibility of his dream: his criminal past unravels, and his idealized vision of Daisy crumbles under scrutiny. The confrontation at the Buchanan lunch table and Myrtle's fatal misidentification of Jordan set the tragedy in motion long before the crash. In the aftermath, Gatsby's quiet confession to Nick and Nick's rare moment of moral clarity set the two men apart from everyone around them. Nick's ultimate decision to leave New York is Fitzgerald's final verdict on the corrupted American Dream of the 1920s.