在成为了孤儿之后，艾瑟（安娜·麦克西维尔·马丁 Anna Maxwell Martin 饰）和被卷入同一宗财产分割案件的理查德（帕特里克·肯尼迪 Patrick Kennedy 饰）以及艾达（凯瑞·穆丽根 Carey Mulligan 饰）一起受邀来到了荒凉山庄，在那里等待着他们的，是热情好客的主人约翰（丹尼斯·劳森 Denis Lawson 饰）和他的好友哈罗德（内森奈尔·帕克 Nathaniel Parker 饰）。
　　男爵夫人艾瑟（吉莲·安德森 Gillian Anderson 饰）有着一段不为人知的过去，而律师图金霍恩（查里斯·丹斯 Charles Dance 饰）则一心想要将它们给弄个清楚。艾瑟和理查德相爱了，但两人的爱情却遭到了约翰的反对，在约翰看来，理查德的首要任务是先拥有自己的事业。

　　1934, America. The Dustbowl. A fugitive named Ben Hawkins finds refuge within a traveling carnival comprised of a tarot card reader and her catatonic/telekinetic mother, a blind mentalist, a bearded lady, and conjoined twins, amongst others. The carnival is owned by the mysterious and unseen Management, who has designs on the young Hawkins, for the boy is concealing an untapped gift: he can heal the lame and raise the dead--at a price. Ben also finds himself disturbed by cryptic and prophetic dreams, which he shares with a Methodist preacher in California, Brother Justin Crowe. Brother Justin, convinced by his dreams he is following God's will, has begun to practice his own extraordinary talents, although the preacher's plans increasingly lead to disturbing and tragic consequences. In this "last great age of magic," Ben Hawkins and Justin Crowe are moving toward a great conflict between Good and Evil, although it not yet clear on which sides these men will stand.