When the body of a clown is discovered hanging from a trapeze bar in the big top in the dead of night. What initially looks like a straightforward suicide, soon proves to be much more than that. The case is brought the attention of Lord John Penkarrow by his housekeeper. Distracted by his upcoming wedding, Lord John at first dismisses the case as not being worthy of his attention, Penkarrow soon finds himself drawn into a dangerous world. A world of drug dealers, professional gamblers, and underworld crime bosses based around the smutty world of 1970's Soho. Where Penkarrow is forced to confront the too often sinister workings of the human mind when motivated by money.