In Amazing Spider-Man #15 and Peter Parker Spider-Man #15, Peter leaves for Latveria in search of Mary Jane after receiving an anonymous call that informed him that she was being held captive in Doctor Doom's castle. The call is revealed to be a hoax and Peter does not find her there. More determined than ever, Peter returns to New York City and continues his search.

In Amazing Spider-Man #16, Peter finds out that Mary Jane’s manager has disappeared and has cleaned out all of her accounts, thus leaving Peter and his Aunt in debt. May ends up crashing at Anna Watson's place until things get better and Peter moves into a very dilapidated apartment building.

In Peter Parker Spider-Man #17, Peter gets evicted from his apartment building because he hasn't paid rent. As a result, he ends up having to live in the street.

In Amazing Spider-Man #18, the Green Goblin attacks Liz Osborn. Peter, as Spider-Man, saves her but he notices that this Goblin is handling the glider clumsily, so he comes to the conclusion that it isn’t Norman Osborn, nor Harry, his son, since the latter died in Spectacular Spider-Man #200. Later that night, as he sleeps in an alley, someone steals his backpack containing his costume and web-shooters. This is where this issue picks up.

ACT 1: It's early morning in New York City. Most of the city is asleep, except for the Green Goblin, who is flying across the sky, in search of something or someone. Elsewhere, Peter Parker has awoken and is frantically searching the city for any sign of his backpack, which was stolen overnight. Meanwhile, the "thief" is in a basement somewhere and has tried on the Spider-Man costume. He takes it off and wonders if he can find someone who would pay the big bucks to put their hands on it.

ACT 2: A short time later, at Empire State University, we find Peter in the washroom, cleaning himself up, pondering about the whereabouts of his costume and web-shooters and about the identity of this new Green Goblin. Just as he is about to exit the washroom, he runs into Flash Thompson. Flash takes a walk with Peter and offers up some advice the way that only Flash can give advice, which is by bragging about himself. Together, they get into a cab and head over to the Daily Bugle (Flash needs to talk to Betty Brant, whom he has been dating on and off for a while now). At that moment elsewhere, the new Green Goblin seem to be involved in some kind of identity crisis, making us believe that he does not know who he is. Meanwhile, the "thief" is trying to figure out how to use Spider-Man's web-shooters. Pressing with his fingers on the trigger is not enough to activate them so he tries to find something that will do the trick. He does find something: a sledgehammer.

ACT 3: The offices of the Daily Bugle. Peter notices that Liz Osborn's bodyguards are standing outside Jonah's office. He ponders again about the identity of the new goblin and wonders if he can talk to Liz in order to get a clue how to find him. On cue, Liz comes out of Jonah's office. Peter accosts her but she says that she is too busy to talk to him now. Flash Thompson, who is nearby, sees the whole scene and tells the lady he's with that Peter is bad luck to any women that get near him. Randy Robertson, who has been standing nearby the whole time, comes to Peter's defence and tells Flash to shut the hell up. The two almost get into a fight, but Peter appears and quickly intervenes between the two; Flash leaves, threatening Randy. Seconds later, Robbie Robertson shows up and asks to talk to Peter. He tells him that the Bugle will not use any of his photos of the Green Goblin attacking Liz from the previous night, as per a request from Liz herself, who doesn't want to bring any further attention to the Goblin and his connection to Osborn Industries. Frustrated, Peter walks away. Randy comes running after him and asks him if he would want to come live in his apartment, which he can't afford by himself. Peter happily agrees to come live with him. Meanwhile, elsewhere, the "thief" takes the sledgehammer to the web-shooters. A strand of web shoots out like lightning and webs him out against the wall behind him. The "thief" realizes that keeping the web-shooters is not the best idea.

ACT 4: Outside the Daily Bugle, Liz Osborn is just about to get into her waiting limousine when the Green Goblin suddenly shows up in the sky above her. Peter and Randy, who are coming down the elevator at that exact moment, hear an explosion. Just as they exit the elevator, people come running towards them, screaming that the Green Goblin is attacking the Osborn woman outside the Bugle. Peter pushes Randy back into the elevator and tells him to call 911 as he closes the door behind him. Devoid of his costume and web-shooters, Peter must improvise to conceal his secret identity. Using a piece of tarp and ropes, left there by painters remodelling the Bugle, Peter makes himself a costume and heads outside. Wasting no time whatsoever, he engages into battle with the Green Goblin. Although he doesn't have his web-shooters, Peter easily takes down the goblin and begins asking questions. It is revealed through their conversation that this Goblin is the one that Norman used when he was trying to make the world believe he wasn't the Goblin (see the concluding chapters of "Spider-Hunt" in Spectacular Spider-Man #255). Peter asks him what he wants. The goblin takes his mask off and he is revealed to be Harry Osborn. Or so it seems. Actually, it is revealed on the next page that he was someone once and that he was condemned to this life of horror and that he only agreed to help Norman because he wanted a father and Norman wanted a son; the perfect trade-off. Norman, however, never gave him the stabilizing formula when he left and now the formula is eating away at his body. Peter tells him that he can help him but he replies that it is too late and that Norman Osborn is coming back. Just as he says that, he dissolves completely into the alley.

ACT 5: A short time later, in the front of the Daily Bugle, Peter finds Liz Osborn being comforted by none other than Flash Thompson. Peter tries to talk to Liz but Liz replies that it's best if he stays away from her from now on. She apologizes and disappears into her limousine, followed by Flash. Later at the Parker residence in Forest Hills, Queens, two men from the Pan Global Airlines – the airline company that caused Mary Jane’s death – deliver a package to Aunt May for Peter. At that moment in a dark alley, the "thief" sells the spider-man costume and web-shooters to none other than J. Jonah Jameson.