First shown as a school teacher placed under arrest by state troopers, the story recounts how the untrained, uneducated, yet brilliant young man, Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr., assumes the identity of a college professor, Trappist monk, prison warden and surgeon in the Canadian navy. The unbelievable hide-and-seek story mixes suspense with humor, as Demara attempts to outwit and outrun the FBI, the police, a priest and several girlfriends.