New York City, 1922. Nicolas Caraveo, a 17-year-old Latinx transgender boy from Minnesota, has no interest in the city's glamor. He rents a small house in West Egg from his 18-year-old cousin, Daisy Fabrega, who lives in fashionable East Egg near her wealthy fiance-and Nick is shocked to find that his cousin now goes by Daisy Fay and passes seamlessly as white.

Nick's neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious young man named Jay Gatsby, whose mansion is the stage for parties so extravagant that they both dazzle and terrify. As Nick is pulled deeper into the glittery culture of decadence, his feelings grow more complicated when he finds himself falling hard for Jay's openness, idealism, and unfounded faith in the American Dream.