Frauds

On his eighth birthday, Roland receives a pair of dice from his war-hero father. He and his brother Matthew build a raft and send it down the river, but danger arrives when the raft approaches a waterfall. Roland's mother tries to intervene as Matthew climbs an overhead crane and slips, vanishing into the raging water.

Years after the childhood tragedy, Roland has become an insurance investigator and a practical joker in the fictional town of Andreas. He uses his wit and the dice superstition to manipulate situations as he moves between cases and pranks.

Jonathan and Beth host a party at their home, and Michael gifts them two tickets to La Bohème. The gift foreshadows a night of refined culture that will soon give way to a dangerous game of deceit.

That night, Beth returns home to a trashed house and a burglar in the act. In defense, she fires a crossbow, impaling him through the heart. When the burglar lowers his mask, he is revealed to be Michael in disguise.

Beth is put on trial for Michael's death, but the judge rules it an accident and acquits her for self-defense. The verdict lingers as Beth tries to resume a semblance of normal life while the strange case continues to loom.

Six months later, Beth and Jonathan file a phony compensation claim for their stolen cutlery. Roland visits to interview Jonathan about Michael's death and reveals that Michael had an accomplice waiting in a getaway car, hinting at a longer scheme behind the scenes.

During Roland's visit, he interviews Beth and interrupts a Twister game, constantly rolling his dice to emphasize his claimed magic. He explains the dice belonged to his father and uses them to decide whether to continue the conversation. After the exchange, he leaves a taunting clue about 'new evidence' and a piece of the stolen forks.

The next morning, Roland returns to approve the compensation claim and reveals that Jonathan is the accomplice. He exposes a forgery of the forks and shows that the real cutlery is hidden elsewhere. The chase intensifies as they discover a hidden safe behind a Battle of Austerlitz model.

Jonathan confesses that he stole the cutlery to cover Beth's mounting debts. They call Roland to meet, and he demands money in exchange for his silence. The couple pays him, choosing to avoid police rather than expose the fraud.

Rather than involving the police, Roland begins a spree of petty terror: stealing back the cutlery, sending an inspector to their car, mailing the crossbow, and decking the house with stolen silver to taunt them. The family is horrified as the pranks escalate, blurring lines between game and danger.

Jonathan locates Roland's house and falls through a secret passage into a game-room-style hideout, triggering traps including a goose release. He escapes and trails Roland to Glendale Clinic, where Matthew—Roland's supposed victim—surfaces as alive, but is revealed to be vegetative and quadraplegic.

At Roland's birthday party, Beth pretends to concede but secretly steals his dice. Roland abducts Beth and triggers a deadly slide-to-saw trap, which the blade retracts as she slides. Jonathan calls with a stark reveal: Matthew is alive but not the powerless figure he claimed, and the plan pivots toward a final gambit involving a drowned outcome and a shocking head in the pool. The moment culminates with the appearance of Matthew's floating head and police sirens approaching as the trio reacts with relieved, uneasy laughter.