Elizabeth Winfield is a retired teacher, who desperately tries to keep her family together. While she's traveling through the country and meeting her relatives, back in her hometown, a group of shopping mall developers are planning to take over her family land in order to begin their ambitious project. Now she needs to find ways to stop this construction in time before the town's annual festivities.

A magician in a carnival--who actually can read minds and levitate people and objects--works with a superintelligent chimp named Alex, who can also talk. The magician and the chimp soon become the stars of the carnival, drawing in big crowds. However, the wild-animal trainer, who has been displaced by the team as the carnival's top act, decides to kidnap Alex and sell him to a medical laboratory for experimentation, thereby getting rid of his competition.

Millions in diamonds are stolen from a New York City safe, and later the burglar is killed. Shamus is paid $10,000 by the owner to find the diamonds or the killer.

Zharko, leader of the Romanis in NYC, passes his position of leadership on to his unwilling grandson, Dave, leading to infighting between Dave and his father.