Jacob Jankowski's life seems to be pretty okay. He's nearly done with his studies at Cornell to be a veterinarian, and he already has a job lined up alongside his father at his practice. But then his parents are killed in a car crash, and they're in debt so the bank takes everything, Jacob is left with nothing. What do you do then? You walk out on your final exams and jump the first train you see, apparently. 
 The beginning works really well for me. Jacob winds up with a traveling circus, and the atmosphere works. We're in the depression/prohibition era, and you know it. Workers don't often get paid; everyone's drinking extract to get drunk. There are so many names to remember and Jacob struggles to remember the circus lingo, and he does a pretty good job. 
 But then we meet Marlena, and I stopped caring about anything at all. 
 Marlena is your typical love interest. She's beautiful, charming, and unavailable. Unfortunately, this is as deep as her character goes. I'm not sure why she's beautiful and charming, besides Jacob saying so. And for someone who's a major plot point, this disappointed me. I cared less and less for the story because I cared less and less for Marlena. 
 I think if the story focused more on the circus and character development, I may have been more interested in it. It has all this potential for being something historical and fascinating, but it's just a glorified love story that could take place anywhere and anytime. Yawn. Maybe the movie works better. I wouldn't know.