Great Gatsby: The Plot Nick Carraway, the narrator, is a young Midwesterner who, having graduated from Yale in 1915 and fought in World War I, has returned home to begin a career. Like others at the time, he is restless and has decided to move East to New York and learn the bond business. The story opens early in the summer of 1922 in West Egg, Long Island, where Nick has rented a house. Next to his place is a huge mansion complete with Gothic tower and marble swimming pool, which belongs to a Mr. Gatsby, someone who Nick has not met. Directly across the bay from West Egg is the richer community of