Bernadette McCoy's death is blamed on seven cats, but Police Chief "Mad Dog" Connolly believes an individual killed her. Sean Kelley attends the Cirque de Délices and watches Angelique Aumont perform. He wants the beautiful Parisian rope walker for his traveling circus, and his wife, but she departs for America to live with her Auntie Bernadette. Hired by P. T. Barnum, Sean promotes singer Jenny Lind—Barnum's "Swedish Nightingale"—and assembles his circus. Angelique discovers Sean has traveled west and becomes Jenny's lady's maid, determined to find him. Sean's father, Timothy, joins the California Gold Rush. Rather than pan for gold, he learns how to "mine the miners." Woven together, Sean, Angelique, and Timothy form a colorful story that enhances the tapestry of the American West.