This masterful novel about impossible love documents the time when the path from dishwasher to millionaire was the shortest - New York in the 1920s offered ample opportunity for this. Jay Gatsby, a man of obscure origins, has worked his way to the top of wealthy society. Now he is trying to get closer to his former childhood sweetheart Daisy Buchanan. While Gatsby tries to impress Daisy with fabulous displays of his wealth, his humble neighbor Nick Carraway observes the frivolous goings-on of the upper class as a chronicler of events and confidant of many a secret.