When a man named Lewis rents a vacation house on Long Island for a few days he doesn't expect to end up on a crazy circus train ride to nowhere His one night in the house he burns it down Then he meets charismatic Joseph Dillon manager of the Circus of the Grand Design Knowing he needs to leave the area in a hurry Lewis agrees to join the circus as a publicist despite Dillon's warning that he might not be able to return to the place he began The circus's private train travels an infinite dream-loop to unknown lands & Lewis becomes lost amongst crazy acrobats sexy elephant riders a magical mechanical horse a giant woman & her savage prehistoric rodent bears an egotistical juggler & a fertility goddess who takes exceptional interest in him The train its residents & the places they visit form a complex puzzle that Lewis feels compelled to solve; this then is the Circus of the Grand Design