The protagonist in this bittersweet story from F. Scott Fitzgerald is in the process of rebuilding his life after losing everything in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market cash. Along with many other Americans caught up in the hedonistic 1920s Paris lifestyle, he had partied hard and drank to excess. When his wife died as he was recovering in a sanitarium, he was forced to give up custody of his then seven-year-old daughter. Two years later, he is determined to win her back. Themes: alcohol abuse and reform, wealth and poverty, fatherly love, self-discipline, alienation, guilt and regret, hope.
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