The fate of a young Australian boy is somehow linked with that of a young Roman boy who had traveled to Australia by ship during the time of the Roman Emperor, Nero.

Sim, now a member of the Winter Circus in Paris, befriends Eve, another young clown. Drawn to an experimental style of clowning used by Circus Oz and Cirque du Soleil, the techniques get them both fired, but when Sim returns home to Australia, he finds that he is now the inheritor of a share in the Rathnow Circus.

Follows a boy who realizes there is more to being a clown, than just clowning around.

A violent storm traps seven children and their schoolteacher in a cave.