Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon star in this drama based on the historical novel by Sara Gruen, following the adventures of a young vet working in a travelling circus during America's Great Depression in the 1930s. After his parents are killed in a car accident, promising Ivy League student Jacob Jankowski (Pattinson) suffers an emotional breakdown and runs away before graduating, eventually finding work as a vet with the down-at-heel Benzini Brothers circus. There he meets a host of colourful characters including tyrannical animal trainer August (Christoph Waltz) and his beautiful wife Marlena (Witherspoon).