Traditionalist Joe Ferabbee's circus performs in his home town, on land contested by his estranged brother, farmer Curtis, who wants to chase them. Barnaby was railroaded by his wife to attend a show with their daughter Betty, who luckily was 'powdering her nose' while the clowns duo's finale, shooting a 'bang flag' pistol, turns bloody as the talented clown who announced just before he's leaving for a more modern show is shot with a real one by his devastated sidekick. Autopsy however shows the real killer was using a rifle from a public seat, the type used by locals like Curtis, who misses one. His on farm abattoir laborer and orphaned protege with a violent criminal record Mostyn Cartwright hides one, and more, in his gore secret basement quarter, and a next murder occurs in the pigs slaughter line while Barnaby ad Winter dig into the maze of dirty secrets among circus people and their loved ones/kin, where even Joe's son Harry runs out of patience with his outdated concept which ruins the circus. Yet the finale focuses on a much older drama.
—KGF Vissers