"Persona 2: Tsumi (Innocent Sin) begins a few years after the events of the first Persona. The six playable characters are Tatsuya Suou, a student at Seven Sisters High School; Lisa Silverman, a popular caucasian girl and fellow student of Tatsuya; Eikichi Mishina, wannabe musician and self-professed "Gang Leader" of Kasugayama High School; Maya Amano, optimistic editor for a teen magazine; Yukino Mayuzumi, Maya's co-worker and a survivor of Revelations: Persona; and Jun Kurosu, son of a teacher who met a grisly death inside the school. Yukino is a returning playable character from Revelations: Persona, and is therefore already familiar with demons and Personae. Maya, on the other hand, only has vague recollections of her Persona, believing it to be a guardian angel that appeared when she was a little girl.
The silent protagonist of the game is Tatsuya Suou. His path intertwines with those of two other students, Eikichi and Lisa, during an encounter with the Joker, a jester-like antagonist who is rumored to grant the wishes of people who dial their own cell phone number. Anyone who fails to tell Joker their wishes, either because they lack one or refuse to tell, has their "ideal energy" stolen, reducing them to ambition-less shells called Shadow Selves. Joker tells the three students that they did something horrible to him in the past, and is angered when they do not recognize him. Swearing revenge, he departs, leaving the trio confused and eager to investigate the Joker."
Source: Wikipedia, "Persona_2," available under the CC-BY-SA License.