Inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind dwell memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fateinto the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Jacob ws there because his luck had run out. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with th wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. Ane rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act--in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust and ultimately it was their only hope for survival...