‘SPOILER ALERT’

We once again see the Curious, the narrator introduces us to this creepy being. The masked figure known as the Curious is in a hall surrounded by many mirrors. The being then makes its way to a jar of marbles and picks it up. The Curious then throws out all the marbles from the jar onto the floor. The Narrator then once again communicates to the audience that memories are a tricky thing and you can never be sure which one are true and which ones are false

The story now officially begins and we are introduced to a traveling circus and its crew. We meet a circus ringmaster called Zephaniah and he introduces Palooka, Nincom and Hijinx as his main stars. All three of these performers are clowns but that is not all, the ringmaster also welcomes Gudge and Puck to the stage. These two are twins who are high drivers. Also part of the circus is a strongman called Kid Herc and then we have Ace, he is the most valuable star in the entire program. Ace is called the Amazing Aromatologist. He has the special ability where he can use his smell to guess a lot of things about all the audience members. This skill makes him a giant star and he is a true crowd pleaser. When Ace begins interacting with the audience he is always right and they all cheer him on.

After the performance we see Ace as he watches many of the people leave the circus. He specifically notices all the families that are departing the show. Ace then remembers his own family and long forgotten past. Zephaniah notices this and comes to scold Ace. He tells him that under any circumstances he is not allowed to leave the circle around the circus.  Ace is sad that he cannot have a life beyond the circus but he has to listen to his ringmaster. After that conversation is over Ace finds photographs that have been discarded from the photo booth. He usually does this after every show and then he places the photos in his special collection that he keeps hidden in his trailer.

That same night we see Zephaniah as he calls all the performers and introduces them to new members of the circus. The newest member is called Indigo. Ace is very interested in Indigo and has many questions for her. He wants to know everything about her, from her town of origin to her past. Indigo for some reason has no memory of her past and cannot answer the questions.

Later in the night Ace goes to sleep and once more remembers his family. This time they arrive while he is dreaming. In his dream he recognizes several clues that could help him find his home and where he comes from. He sees a giant water tower in his dream and the mailbox. This specific mailbox in his dream has Butterfields written on it. Ace soon wakes from his dream and is excited that he has some clues to find about his origins.  He wants to remember everything he dreamed about so he takes out a notebook and draws everything that he saw. He draws the entire town, water tower and he even writes the name he saw.

That same night Ace hears something strange, somebody is nearby screaming for help. He runs out and soon he finds out that it was Indigo. She has gotten totally lost in the hall of mirrors which is an attraction in the circus. Soon Ace manages to find her and saves her. After that they talk about their lives. Indigo is really scared about not being good enough of a performer. She is scared that she will not be good in front of the audience as she has no real talents. Ace then tells her that everything will be okay and that she will find her talents like everyone in the circus before.

Indigo wants to know more about Ace so she asks him about his origins and where he is from. Ace then admits that he has not memories of that and he wants to find out. Indigo then notices that Ace has a collection of photos in his trailer. Ace is a bit embarrassed but he then explains that these are all families that came to watch the performances in the circus. He hopes that one day his family will be in these photos so he will be able to recognize them. Ace also tells Indigo that he thinks his dreams are real memories from his past. Ace now strongly believes that a lot of his true memories are lies and he thinks that a lot of his life has been an illusion. Because of their conversation Indigo also starts to think about her own family. She also has no memories of her past. Ace then tells Indigo that she cannot tell anyone about their conversation and his collection. Zephaniah spots Indigo leaving Aces trailer so he gets suspicion of their relationship.

Soon enough it’s time for another performance in the circus. Indigo now takes the stage for the first time and she is very nervous. She has stage fright and does not know what to perform. Ace then arrives to help her and tells her that she does not need to be shy in front of the audience. Indigo is wearing a special costume with feathers and now she finds her courage and performs several very complicated acrobatic moves inside a hoop. When she first starts to perform she is nervous and a bit clumsy but soon she finds her confidence and the people in the audience love her moves. Everybody cheers for her and the entire performance is a success.

After the performance is over all the performers gather around and talk. Ace is getting more angry as nobody can leave the circus. They are always forbidden to go outside in the real world. Gudge then comments that this is for their own safety as the real world is not only dangerous but there is also nothing interesting or special out there. Ace does not buy her story at all and disagrees. Ace wants to prove his point so he demands that Gudge explains how she first arrived at the circus. Judge also has no memory of her past and she just remembers vague details about her arrival in the circus. The scariest part is that she also has no memory of her family members and their names. Zephaniah then arrives just in time and tells all the performers that they do not need a family, they are all now a new family. Then he congratulates Indigo on her performance and gives her the title of „Flying Spirit“. This is now her official circus name.

Things return back to normal at the circus but Ace is still chasing after the truth. He draws the water tower from his dreams and soon his drawings are discovered by Kid Herc. Kid Herc notices that the drawings are very realistic and that the same water tower can be noticed nearby in the forest. Ace is then ecstatic as he realizes that the circus camp must be really close to his original hometown. Ace then once again goes back to his trailer but there he finds Zephaniah.

Zephaniah has found the notebook that Ace has and has found his pictures. Ace confronts Zephaniah and tells him that he finally knows that his entire memory of his past is fake and that he now wants to go back to his real parents and relatives. Zephaniah thinks that Ace is losing his mind and that he is not making any sense. He also tells Ace that his original family did not want him and rejected him. Ace then came to the circus as he had no home and wanted shelter. Ace does not believe the ringmaster at all and demands that he goes back home. Zephaniah then agrees to take Ace to his family the next morning. Before he leaves, Zephaniah tells Ace that sometimes reality is not as great as dreams and wishes.

The following morning everybody in the circus says goodbye to Ace as he prepares to leave. The field that is surrounding the circus opens and this allows Ace and Zephaniah to leave. Then they drive off in Zephaniah’s truck. The water tower is the main clue and they drive towards it. Ace also has many clues that he wrote in his notebook and they follow those clues to his home. They finally arrive and Ace is really excited. He gets out of the truck and goes to talk with his family. The family has no idea who Ace is and this breaks his heart. Ace says he is sorry for bothering them and he then goes back to the circus. Ace is now totally depressed and he goes back to his trailer alone. He sits on his bed and feels totally alone. He starts to cry and gets mad. Ace then finds all the photographs he has collected and rips them apart. After that Indigo arrives at his trailer and tries to help him. She comforts him and tells him that all his dreams and memories were real. She wants to help Ace to find the real truth about their origins.

The following day Ace has to once again perform in front of an audience. He is still depressed and does not focus on his performance. He actually makes a mistake using his special smell powers. While that is happening Indigo goes inside of Zephaniah’s trailer. She finds many strange things inside, glass eyes and many marbles in cases. Soon after that Zephaniah arrives and catches Indigo in the act. He then admits everything, all the performers in the circus were given fake memories. He reveals that his power comes from the glass eye he wears. Indigo is furious and tells him that she will reveal the truth to others in the circus. Zephaniah then uses one of the glass eyes and puts a spell on Indigo, she can no longer speak.

He is now angry at Indigo and wants to punish her. All the members of the circus now arrive and Zephaniah takes Indigo to the edges of the circus camp. He wants to show everyone what happens when they break the rules. Ace and Indigo hug and she returns his drawings. Indigo then crosses the boundary of the circus and totally vanishes. She turns into a giant cocoon. Zephaniah then goes and picks up the cocoon and hangs it right in front of his trailer. There are many other coocons there, meaning many other people tried to escape the circus

Ace realizes that Indigo left him a message. She has drawn a glass eye and instructed Ace to destroy it, this is the main source of their imprisonment. Ace then sneaks into the trailer of the ringmaster while he is sleeping. He then takes the whole case of marbles but Zephaniah wakes up. Ace tries to run away but he also drops all the marbles. Zephaniah then finds his glass eye and throws it on the other side of the circus boundary. Zephaniah is now furious at Ace and tells him that he must be punished. Ace finds the marble that has the power and breaks it.This totally destroys the force field around the circus. Ace then grabs the glass eye and gives it to Kid Herc who smashes it.

Lights then appear all around the circus members and they reveal their true forms. All the performers are actually animals. Puck and Gudge are penguins, Kid Herc is a bear, the clowns are all monkeys and Indigo is a hummingbird. The monkeys then attack Zephaniah and take him away. Ace manages to capture one of the lights and takes it to his family home. He then releases it and changes into his real form. The family goes outside and they are now really happy to see Ace who is now a dog. This entire time Ace was the family’s lost dog.

As the story ends, we once more see The Curios and he picks up a glass eye from the floor. The Narrator then tells us, the audience, that maybe all of us have some secret form.