The Seventh Doctor and Ace are invited to the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax. Aside from others that have been invited, the Circus is surprisingly empty; a few entertainers and stagehands are present alongside the Ringmaster and Morgana, the ticket seller and fortune teller, and the only audience is a stoic family of three: a father, mother and daughter. The Doctor and Ace quickly learn that they are expected to perform for the circus, and those that fail to entertain the family are annihilated. Escape is nearly impossible, as the Chief Clown, aided by numerous kites used for surveillance, leads a group of mechanical clowns around the wastelands of Segonax to recapture those that escape.