Plot

The Great War has kept "Lad Helpful" and her household very busy and filled with children. Her husband, the Professor, seems the only one to not have noticed the upheaval going on in the world beyond his study window. But any day now, it will all be over. Not time to confront tragedy or a broken heart. Time for a celebration. and what better than home-grown circus? That's what Charlotte wants now. Unfortunately, a circus calls for talent and there's not much to be had. Enter three men looking for somewhere to hide. Wired, unpredictable and on the run, Archie, Joe and Shelly are a dangerous secret to keep hidden in the barn. There again, Joe says he can mount a circus, and if 'Lady Helpful' is to have her celebration, he might be their only hope. When Joe offered to put on a show, he was not bargaining on his commanding officer being in the audience. As the deserters disguise themselves, as the circus tent goes up and the neighbors start to arrive, it seems Joe has sacrificed himself and his mates to an absurd folly. Still, the show must go on. In amid the oddest circus acts fall stories, songs and speeches about the great theatre of war itself/ This is a circus with something to say. But with Major Howe let it reach its spectacular climax or with Joe Soap's Masquerade, like everything else, end in tears?