At the height of his wealth, powerful and envied, isolated in the splendor of his mansion on the Hudson, lives a man condemned to unhappiness. This man is Gatsby, an ex-gangster locked in his own mysterious profession, in a false past from which emerges at times the memory of a single pure youthful love.The young Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 and rents a house in the prestigious and dreamy Long Island, inhabited by many newly rich people frantically engaged in celebrating each other. One neighbor strikes Nick in particular: the mysterious Jay Gatsby, who lives in a huge, gaudy house, filling it every Saturday night with guests at his extravagant parties. Yet he lives in desperate loneliness and in senseless love for Nick's cousin Daisy....In the setting of a brilliant and unsatisfied society, where the world of alcohol smugglers mixes with that of bankers and stars, Gatsby desperately pursues his dream of love for Daisy. To no avail now is its power, except to arouse in both lovers a sweet madness, which will end in tragedy.