The novel follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The plot revolves primarily around the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his bizarre passion and obsession with the lovely former debutante Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby, considered Fitzgerald's magnum opus, explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, painting a portrait of the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale about the American Dream.