The thread of the story often jumps from interviews with real people who are portrayed in the film and the events themselves that are played by actors. In 2003, in Lexington, Kentucky, Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) is an art student who feels that his life has no meaning and that he needs something to happen, even a tragic event, to inspire him in the works its artistic. Warren Lipka (Evan Peters) is a rebellious student who has a sports scholarship, but he does not really care about the sport and is only attending classes to please his family.
After Spencer takes a tour through the rare book collection of the Transylvania University Library, the two friends put a plan to steal a highly valuable book written by James Audubon plus other books of great value. Warren goes to Amsterdam to meet potential black market buyers who are interested in buying those books.
After returning to America, he informs Spencer that he could win tens of millions of dollars after this robbery, to the delight of both of them. Realizing that they will need help, to cope with two other friends named Erik Borsuk and Chas Allen (Jared Abrahamson and Blake Jenner) in the team, the first to deal with the logistics of the operation, and the other the second will be the driver to make sure they run away from the scene. On the day of robbery, they disguise themselves as elderly businessmen and enter the library.