Robert Childan, owner of American Historic Artifacts, frets over his need to prepare an item of great historicity for a meeting between Mr. Tagomi and Mr. Baynes. The meeting is thought to be about Swedish plastics, but it becomes clear that there is more going on. Mr. Baynes, secretly a Jew working high in the German government, tells Mr. Tagomi that they must wait for another Japanese man, who is arriving by boat, before they can complete their meeting.

Mr. Baynes and Mr. Tagomi eventually have their meeting when General Tadeki arrives from Japan.

Meanwhile, Frank Frink, a Jew living in the Pacific States, gets fired from his job and begins to create his own jewelry on the side with a friend and former co-worker. They are not able to sell any items, but they do give some to Robert Childan on consignment. He takes a piece to a young Japanese couple, selling it as modern authentic American craftsmanship. The young Japanese man at first does not understand, but eventually grows to appreciate them. Frank is arrested for his role in impersonating an official, and then kept for being a jew. He is released on a whim.

Juliana Frink, Frank’s ex-wife, lives in Colorado where she meets a man named Joe Cinnadella who introduces her to a book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which speculates on what would have happened if Japan and Germany had lost the war. She becomes so enamored by the book that she and Joe decide to travel to see the author, Hawthorne Abendsen (or the Man in the High Castle). When they near the Abendsen’s, she realizes that Joe is an assassin sent to kill Hawthorne. Juliana is able to kill Joe, and escape to see Hawthorne.

When Juliana arrives, she begins to question Hawthorne, and they take the question of why he wrote the book to the Oracle. It reveals that he wrote it because it is the truth. They are left to ponder what this could mean.