ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Three Identical Strangers

Once upon a time, there were three boys who looked exactly the same. So same hair, same eyes, same nose...you get it. They were identical triplets!

One day when they were still babies, the three triplets were separated from each other and sent to live with different families. They grew up never even knowing that they had siblings out there in the world who looked just like them.

Fast forward many years later, by chance, one of the triplets went to college, and there he met two strangers who seemed to know him well. They turned out to be his long-lost brothers whom he never even knew existed!

The surprising discovery made the news, and everybody wanted to learn all about the identical triplets who were separated and raised apart. It was like a fairy-tale come true, but then things started to get darker...

See, the triplets had been separated as part of a psychological study without their parents' knowledge or consent. Researchers were studying how identical siblings raised in different environments would develop similarly or differently.

The brothers and their families were never told about the study, and the separated siblings were never given a chance to meet each other until chance brought them together years later. The triplets, as young boys, had no idea they had siblings, let alone identical twins living just miles away!

It was a big cover-up, and the triplets were used as pawns in a study that had many ethical concerns. While some scientists praised the work as groundbreaking, what happened to the triplets was a tragedy. Their whole lives, they missed out on having a brother with whom they could have grown up.

In short, "Three Identical Strangers" tells the story of triplets separated at birth, who by chance discover that they have brothers, yet uncover an unethical and bizarre experiment that adds twists to their stories.