ACT 1: The story opens up with Billy Fender, a Private Dick who has a fixation on finding Spider-Man’s secret identity. We follow Billy as he makes his way to a local bar where he used to be a regular and we listen to him as he chats for a while with Rita, a very attractive barmaid, whom he's been dating on and off. He tells Rita that he has a big day coming the next day, one that's going to pay off for real this time. He asks her out for coffee then heads back out into the City.

ACT 2: As he makes his way back to his place, Billy explains how he came to the City six years ago to do some surveillance work for a man investigating his cheating wife. While he had been taking pictures, from across the street, of the wife getting dirty with another man, he had heard some gunshots coming from the street below. Camera in hand, he had run downstairs to investigate the source of the commotion and had found a dozen cops running away from the Rhino. Billy had been so hypnotized by the destruction caused by the Rhino that he hadn't noticed that the latter was heading in his direction. He had seen his life flash before his eyes but somehow the Rhino had jumped right over him and landed behind him. Something had scared the Rhino, Billy had thought, and as he had looked up overhead, he had seen none other than Spider-Man, web-slinging after the Rhino. At that moment, he had realized that he had a new purpose in life: to find out Spider-Man's identity.

ACT 3: After that, Billy decided to stay in the City and began working for a large insurance company as a fraudulent super-hero-related claim investigator; he's been working there for the past six years. We are treated to a flashback sequence from around the time when Billy started to work at the insurance company and how he used his position to gather information about Spider-Man, although his crooked boss gave him a hard time about it.

ACT 4: Back in the present, Billy leaves his apartment, folds an envelope and shoves it inside his pocket. He mentions to himself that "today is the day" and he starts walking. As he walks, he explains how he’s been tracking down Spider-Man's patrol routes for years, compiling data on his speech patterns and methodology and how he's been able to determine from which area of town he comes from. He goes on explaining how he knows that there are certain chemical compounds found in Spider-Man's webbing that can only be found in photo development labs and that he must be pretty smart if he was able to create his web-shooters. He adds that Spider-Man's alter ego is probably naturally built and that he properly tries to hide his physique underneath baggy clothing or stuffs a pillow down his shirt or something. He also mentions that Spidey's alter ego probably is contrived to be seen in the same place as Spidey a couple of times so that people are thrown off the scent. He is so sure that he's figured out Spider-Man's secret identity that he's finally decided to put his plan into action.

ACT 5: Billy's long walk takes him straight to the insurance company where he works and he heads directly into his boss's office where he hands him a piece of paper and quits. He then makes his way to the Daily Bugle and walks straight to J. Jonah Jameson's office where he knocks on the door. Jonah answers the door with his characteristic charm and asks him what he wants. Billy replies to Jonah that he has the biggest news story he has ever published right there in his pocket. He tells him that he knows Spider-Man's secret identity, which, according to him, is none other than Jameson himself. The End.