Jasper Holt is a wealthy and successful bank teller in a small city. He has dark slick hair and a bald spot. He wears expensive clothes. He tells the woman he boards with that he is going out. She makes a comment about his experience as an actor in local theatre. 

He goes to a store and purchases candy that comes in boxes that are like leather-bound books. He has the gift wrapped. He then goes to a store and buys real books of a similar nature and has them wrapped. He goes a bit out of town to Rosebank to visit his twin brother John, who is extremely religious and a hermit.  Everyone that lives by the hermit thinks Jasper is such a good brother for coming to visit his odd-ball twin. The brick path from the shed for cars to the hours is damp and overgrown. It is lined by willows. 

When inside, he puts the candy from the boxes on a table and puts the books and the fake books on a lockable bookshelf. He eats candy and goes upstairs. Once upstairs, he takes off his suit and puts on baggy clothes and a brown wig. He dresses up as his twin, John. John is a reclusive man belonging to a religious fraternity, claiming to be writing a book on Revelation. He goes downstairs and exits through the front door where he has a sign asking people to not disturb his literary work. 

He goes to a store and buys odd, preservable items. He then goes to the “Soul Hope Fraternity Hall Experience Meeting.” This is the religious fraternity that he is a part of. He goes weekly, for the most part. John appeared in Rosebank just six months prior. Everyone believes he has rich family members sending him money. He has credit in his group for doing religious things, such as buying his home from a clergyman and keeping all his literature,  and committing to writing a book and praying most of the time. 

After the meeting, John returns home and takes off his costume. He again becomes Jasper. Jasper leaves and drops the candy out on the side of the road. He donates the food to a poor family on his way back who relies on his regular contributions. It is still evening and Jasper makes a stop at his community theatre practice where his a star amateur actor. 

One day, Jasper calls off sick with a headache. John goes into the bank where Jasper works to see the president. The president has only seen John once before, and coincidentally, Jasper had also been ill that day. They talk about Jasper. John expresses distaste for the sinful ways in which John lives. 

When Jasper returns to work he expresses that his brother John is really a good fellow and should be brought in if Jasper ever robbed a bank, as he does not stop until justice is reached. The bank president thinks John is a square. Jasper continues to complain that his head hurts. The president advises him to take a week off. Jasper finally agrees to go fishing south of town in Wanagoochie for a week and to rest. 

Jasper retrieves the John costume from John’s house. He takes off like he is going south but actually goes north to St. Claire and finds a place off a road and near a cliff where he could crash his car. He clears a pathway from the main road to the cliff. He messes up the spark plugs in his car. He takes the car to a garage, gives a fake name, and says he must have it back by tomorrow at nine. 

He takes a train home and tells people he ran into car trouble in Wanagoochie, had to leave his car there, and come home. 

In the morning he packs up all his belongings in suitcases, claiming to be resuming his fishing trip. He goes to work at the bank. As he is working he fills suitcases with money. He locks his safe but tells his co-worker that they need to check his work to buy him extra time. He says he is leaving early for his trip down south. He goes north to retrieve his car with the stolen money. He runs it off the cliff and makes Jasper disappear. 

He puts on his John costume and goes to John’s house. He hides the money in the fake candy-box books. He gets deep into character as John, the extremely religious, pious hermit who claims to be writing a book on Revelation. The bank realizes what Jasper did. No one can find him. John goes in to help. However, he drives them crazy with his religious rhetoric and insistence that Jasper needs to be brought to justice. He invites them to search his home and car. He visits all sorts of people on the case who become tired of his overly zealous and religious attitude. They eventually stop searching for Jasper and never suspect that John is Jasper.

Jasper, however, does nothing with the money except continue to send it to himself from his alleged rich family member. Thus, he is not receiving any extra money, as John would never spend large sums of money on anything fancy. He continues going to the meetings. He begins writing the book about Revelation so no one becomes suspicious. He obsesses so deeply about becoming John that he goes somewhat insane. Jasper believes he is John. He becomes riddled with guilt and looks for signs that he should confess or run away to South America and spend all of the money. He begins going out sometimes under the encouragement of his neighbors. One night when he is out, he is robbed of all the money he originally stole from the bank. He rushes out into public in a psychotic state, not knowing what to do. He goes to see the president of the bank to confess, eighteen months after the robbery occured.

John tells Jasper everything but the president does not believe him. He thinks John is crazy. When John removes his costume he looks nothing like Jasper, as so much time has passed without him taking care of himself. The president asks him to present the money if he stole it. He can only produce a dollar and some change. The president tells him to leave and instructs his secretary to never let John in again. 

John goes to the police and says he stole a lot of money and needs to go to jail. The police think he is a homeless man and tell him to get a job.