Going back into the historical narrative, having just recently escaped a serious prison sentence for swindling neighbors out of time and resources, Jo sets his ambitions towards taking Emma Hale as a wife and finally obtaining his plates of gold. Jo then engages in a series of small wizard skirmishes with his former money digging associates in order to keep his Gold Bible out of their hands.

References:

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, by Richard L. Bushman
Mormonism Unveiled, by E.B. Howe
The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844., by John Brooke
Early Mormonism and the Magical World View, by D. Michael Quinn
Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and his Progenitors for many Generations, by Lucy Mack Smith
Joseph Brings the Plates Home, by Dan Vogel
Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism, by Tucker, Pomeroy