But his twin brother is to begin days as Fletcher Andrew Davenport (according to chapter 2), the only son of a multi millionaire and his society wife.

Even when Nat and Fletcher fall in love with same girl, Diane, they still don't meet but continue on their separate paths, owing to the efforts taken by the multi-millionaire's nurse.

During the years, both men find themselves opposed by the machinations of the untrustworthy Ralph Elliot, who went to school with Nat, slept with his girlfriend and is his personal nemesis.

Although their lives (common acquaintances and enemies, Fletcher saving the life of Nat's son during a school hostage situation) are interconnected, they never meet.

However, their paths finally cross when they both decide to run for governor of Connecticut and Fletcher agrees to defend Nat on the charge of murdering his Republican primary opponent Ralph Elliot for leaking information about his wife and mother-in-law that leads to the suicide of his only child.

As Fletcher was hospitalized in the clinic where he was born, the attending doctor then finds secret documents which reveals that the obstetrician had the suspicions that the twins were switched at birth.

[4] Several aspects of the plot, as well as specific incidents such as the toss of the coin, also occur in a previous book he wrote - First Among Equals, which is a power struggle between four politicians for the prime ministership of the UK.