The setting is a run-of-the-mill carnival in rural America during the roaring 20's. Amid the fun and gaiety, the gaming joints and concession stands, the clanging machinery of the rides, and the outside talker luring rubes into the freak show tent, a calamity has happened to the pretty snake charmer. Birds, snakes, a dog and a bottle of moonshine compliment the human carnies that grapple with a crime of passion, and it is the reluctant wild man geek who helps save the carnival itself.