The novel's main character, David, is a sixteen-year-old boy who is impulsive and has a habit of overcommitting himself. David's chief concern is his infatuation with Angela, "an extremely good-looking and a very enthusiastic type of person,"who is going out with Carl, "a snotty jerk." As the novel opens, David has been thinking about Angela for some time and has finally managed to get a date with her, only to discover that he has already made plans to attend his grandmother's birthday for the same evening. His discovery of the Spee-Dee-Dupe, which makes duplicates of living things, seems to be the answer to his problems, so he decides to make a copy of himself without thinking of the consequences.

During the early chapters of the book, David is mostly concerned with himself and gives little thought to how his actions affect others. The...