The Buchanans go back to their place. Jordan invites Nick inside, but he refuses. As he leaves, he hears Gatsby calling to him. He tells Nick that Daisy was driving after leaving the city to ease her tension, but although he tried to move the car, they were unable to stop from hitting Myrtle. Nick walks away, seeing Tom and Daisy talking, apparently having reconciled.

Nick meets up with Gatsby later as he is fixing up the Duesenberg and covering it. He learns more about Gatsby - the whole truth. Gatsby was always after Daisy and hoped she would wait for him after he came back from the war. Although he was penniless, he wanted to come back to her, but she had already married Tom. Nick realizes Gatsby truly loved Daisy, and he only threw the parties in the hopes that she would show up for one of them. That morning, Gatsby's gardener comes in and says he is to drain the pool before the leaves fall. Gatsby decides to take a swim before that and asks Nick to join him but he declines. Before finally leaving, Nick tells Gatsby that the Buchanans are rotten people and that Gatsby is worth more than them. They share a friendly wave before departing.

CONTINUED....

At work, Nick is too distracted and hopes Gatsby will call him with good news. At the same time, we see Daisy looking at her phone as she considers calling Gatsby. The phone rings at his place, and Gatsby hears it, excited. However, he does not see George Wilson behind him, who shoots him in the back. He falls into his pool, dead, just as George turns the gun on himself. We also see that it was Nick, not Daisy, who was calling, and he panics as he heard the gunshots.

After Gatsby's death, the media blamed him for the affair with Myrtle, as well as her death. Nick is upset that he could not tell them the truth. His place is bombarded with reporters who ungraciously huddle over his open casket. Nick tries to get in touch with Daisy, but she and Tom are leaving with their daughter, packing up everything and having their butler tell Nick they are gone. Nick adds that virtually nobody attended Gatsby's funeral except him. He would later go on to leave New York and go back to the Midwest, completely disillusioned. He also muses that Gatsby could not see that his dream of being with Daisy was behind him.