On a summer night in Louisville, in 1917, Jay Gatsby, a young Army officer, falls in love with Daisy Fay, a society belle; before leaving for the war, Gatsby swears that he will raise himself to her social station, and they avow their undying love. Nine years later, Gatsby, through mysterious association with a Charles Wolf, has come to possess great wealth and a Long Island estate, while Daisy, swayed by parental authority, has married Tom Buchanan, a dissolute blue-blood, who also maintains an affair with Myrtle Wilson, a garage-keeper's wife. At a party given by Gatsby, Daisy declares that she still cares for him. Later, Tom charges Gatsby with making love to his wife and with bootlegging; and Daisy prepares to leave with Gatsby in his roadster. Wilson upbraids his wife for her infidelity; and dashing onto the road, Myrtle is struck down by Gatsby's car, and he confesses his responsibility to the police. Friendless and alone, Gatsby roams through his garden and is shot by the vengeful Wilson.
—Pamela Short