While filming a soap opera in which Mrs. Fletcher's niece plays a part, a 'pretend' victim is really dead.

It's a bad day for the jurors when Jessica is the foreperson of the jury hearing the case of a man claiming self-defense in the death of an enraged husband.

Jessica's niece receives a gift from her grandfather---a man long thought dead---which leads Jessica (Angela Lansbury) to a circus beset by accidents and murder. Part 1 of two. Neil Fletcher: Jackie Cooper. Edgar Carmody: Martin Balsam. Brad Kaneally: Greg Evigan. Katie McCallum: Pamela Susan Shoop.

Conclusion. Despite her brother-in-law's confession, Jessica refuses to believe he killed the circus foreman. Neil Fletcher: Jackie Cooper. Preston Bartholomew: Alex Cord. Edgar Carmody: Martin Balsam. Brad Kaneally: Greg Evigan. Katie McCallum: Pamela Susan Shoop.

A small town editor in Montana threatens to claim in public that he is the real author of a dead man's manuscript.