Rupert Psmith (the P is silent) is made to work at the New Asiatic Bank on a whim of his father s. There he meets classmate and fellow cricketeer Mike Jackson, who has also been sent there by his father and shares a dislike for John Bickersdyke, head of the bank and an old friend of Psmith s father. They vow to get even with the annoying Bickersdyke and free themselves from the bank goals which, through many Wodehousean complications, they ultimately achieve.
