In this, his first novel, the life and career of the narcissistic, gifted and handsome hero, Amory Blaine, echoes Fitzgerald's own life in several ways. First, as a young man growing up in the age of fun and plenty that preceded the Wall Street Crash, later at Princeton, where Amory becomes one of the literary circle, falls in love with beautiful society girls and is, in short, a romantic egotist. By the end of the novel, when Amory reaches 24, he realises that his self-absorption has prevented him from finding that most elusive state: happiness.