The fat man was annoying her, so Ferron slugged him, and that was the way it began.

It was Ferron's rotten luck to think the blonde was a lady, until the bayou town told him differently, in terms of tar and feathers. But by then the town had boycotted Ferron's show, the greatest little carnival in the South, and Ferron's last hope for the main chance.

So Ferron found himself stuck with a barren midway, a mob ready for a lynching - and with a baby-eyed blonde who had a fine knack for attracting murder.