It is 1971 and seventeen-year-old Sarah Cunningham is consumed by wanderlust. When her passion for capturing interesting subjects through her camera lens leads Sarah to a grassy lot one day, she becomes immediately mesmerized by the fascinating circus life that surrounds her.

Eager to fit in and in need of a passport into a world beyond her reach, Sarah escapes her scripted suburban life, makes the circus her family, and loses her virginity to West, a handsome performer with a gift for handling wild animals. While under the spell of circus mystique, Sarah falls in love with West...